The missing Hearth
by ScarleyandDaniel
Summary: Three new Demigods Zia, Damara and Phoenix join forces with Percy, Annabeth and Nico to save a certain goddess of the hearth or will chaos stand in the way? Slight Percabeth
1. To camp Half Blood

**The missing Hearth**

**Hi all this is mine and Scarlett's first joint fanfiction so don't be mad if it's all bleeergh!**

**Summery: Three new Demigods Zia, Damara and Phoenix have joint forces with Percy, Annabeth and Nico to save a certain goddess of the hearth who's been kidnapped to a far away country. Will Hestia be saved Or will certain forces of chaos stand in the way?**

**Slight Percabeth, mainly OC**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately we do not own PJO *sigh***

Chapter one – Phoenix's POV

April the seventh 2008, may sound like a normal day to you but to me and my two best friends, Zia and Damara it was the day our lives changed. I was dressed in my favourite retro blue skinny jeans and my D&G Mickey mouse top, waiting on the corner of Fifth Avenue for Damara and Zia to show up for our annual shopping trip. I scanned the street for any sign of the two of them when I noticed two boys looking at me; quickly I looked down not wanting to draw any attention to myself and decided to walk towards Damara's moms apartment when I realised the boys were following me, I quickened my pace hoping to lose them but they had already caught up and had me cornered against the wall, I freaked, I didn't know what these two wanted from me. One of them was probably the ugliest person I have seen in my life he looked at me and I could see the hatred in his eyes, he pushed me to the floor and started kicking me, when suddenly a voice shouted from across the street

"If you don't leave him alone I'll cut your f**king balls off"

I recognised that voice and relief washed over me as I realised it was Damara, he had stopped kicking me, so I thought it was safe to uncurl my head, just in time to see her storming across the street straight towards the boys, she had her fist raised and anger was emanating from her. The boys looked me and then back at Damara, deciding it wasn't worth it and scarped shouting

"See you later faggot".

Zia rushed over the street coming to a halt in front of us with pleading eyes saying

"Oh, Phoenix it's all my fault! I left my cell at my apartment and I dragged Damara with me, if I hadn't forgotten it none of this would have happened, I'm sorry! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

Not bothering to answer just yet I stood up and brushed the dirt off my top and jeans, finally deciding to say

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

and walked back in the direction of Fifth Avenue. As soon as we reached the corner of the street this crazy guy brandishing a sword flew round flanked by a girl and another guy. The first boy ran straight into me and knocked me to the ground, Zia feeling sorry for earlier started shouting

"Who do you think you are? Watch were you're going next time, especially if you're going to carry such a dangerous weapon as that sword! Is it even legal to have one of those?"

The girl looked at us, deep in her thoughts and asked "You can see it?" Damara replied while rolling her eyes

"Of course we can its in plain sight isn't it"

The girl looked at each boy then back at us. The first boy turned to her and said

"Annabeth we can't leave them here. What if they are you-know-what and the Empusa see them!"

The girl who must be Annabeth looked at him deeply, exhaled and replied "We can't, what if they can just see through the mist? We can't risk it"

Zia and Damara were getting annoyed that these strangers were discussing what to do with them; however I was finding it deeply interesting. I noticed the second boy looked back around the corner nervously and finally spoke up

"Percy –"

The guy who must be Percy cut him off and turned to us

"Follow me and stay close. We'll take you to a camp where you'll be safe"

Damara frustratingly asked "But what about clothes?"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed both their hands motioning to Percy to lead the way.

Half an hour later I was covered in sweat and panting, Percy made us run half way across New York to a place he called 'Camp' we don't even know what the camp is even about, or what they meant when they said 'You-know-what'. I know what you're thinking, that I must be absolutely mad to follow a group of teenagers carrying weapons to a place I know nothing about, but I had this feeling that I had to trust them, like my life and the lives of my friends depended on it.

My chest hurt, I'd never run so much in my life, I looked forward and noticed that Percy had stopped in front of a hill, he was staring up at it, he then started to climb. I checked behind me to see if Zia and Damara were following us, they looked at me then at Percy and started following his lead. Once we were near the top of the hill I had Damara scream, she pointed in the direction of a pine tree

She finally stammered out "I-is that a dragon?"

Annabeth looked at us and replied "Don't worry, he's harmless" she turned to Percy "You must be right seaweed brain"

then she just carried on climbing up the hill. We reached the top seconds later and looked down at a giant farm with a massive house and with cabins in a U shape with a circle of others around them. Zia was staring at a rock wall with what I thought must be lava flowing down it

I turned to Percy and stammered "W-what is this place?"

with a big smile on his face he said "Home."

Annabeth, Percy and the other guy whose name turned out to be Nico started walking towards the big house. We stood frozen in shock until Percy turned and looked at us

"Follow us and we'll take you to the camp director".

There was no other way to describe the camp but beautiful, we walked for awhile in silence just absorbing the scenery, then a bunch of kids gasped and pointed at Damara with some whispering the name

"Apollo"

Damara looked herself up and down trying to figure out if her outfit clashed, until she saw Zia pointing upwards where she saw a glowing bow and arrow above her head, she started freaking out trying to swat it away with her hands, but no matter how much she tried they passed straight through, one of the kids from the group surrounding us walked up to Damara and offered her his hand saying

"Welcome to the Apollo cabin"

She looked at him strangely and walked off to where Percy and his friends were standing

"What was that? And what the heck is the 'Apollo cabin'?" Nico looked at her sympathetically

"Chiron will explain" he muttered and walked off to a black cabin attached to the end of the U.

Annabeth looked at us "Come on, we don't have all day" she said impatiently and walked off in the direction of the big house.

We reached the house in a matter of minutes, we saw a guy in a wheelchair playing a weird game with another man in a bright Hawaiian shirt. Percy stepped on the porch and strolled towards the first guy

"Chiron" he said "We found these three in new York" indicating to us. Chiron wheeled himself to the end of the porch and looked all three of us up and down, I then felt embarrassed for how I must of looked,

Annabeth chirped up "One of them already been claimed as one of Apollo's"

"Hmmmm" Chiron pondered "and what of the other two?"

"Not yet" she replied.

"What's going on?" Zia demanded

Chiron looked her "Feisty one, maybe Ares. Children, do you know much about Greek mythology?" He asked. We shook our heads in unison. "well" he continued "It was believed there was twelve Olympian gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are the big three along with Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, Hermes, Hera and Hephaestus. It was believed these gods and other minor gods would come down to earth and have children with the mortals, these were known as demigods or Half-bloods, half god half mortal and that is what you are, along with everyone else in this camp" he concluded. Just then a horn sounded "Aah, dinner. Percy, Annabeth why don't you walk these three down to the dinner pavilion and show them to their respective tables" Chiron said while rising out the wheelchair. Stunned we saw what we thought was a human become a half-horse-half -person.

Once we was at the dinner pavilion Percy told Damara to sit at a table with people who looked a lot like her, Annabeth noticed our questioning looks and answered

"There her half siblings, you'll have to sit at that table until you're claimed" she pointed at a cramped, overfilled table. We crushed ourselves onto the end waiting for something, and then suddenly gusts of winds started to carry food to each and every person. I received a chicken Caesar salad my favourite along with some cherry coke. Yum. We noticed people starting to stand and walk to a large fire and scrape some of their food in, I looked at Zia and she looked at me. Silently we agreed we should follow and copy what they were doing. When we were done we sat and started eating our meal in silence, a single gasp filled the pavilion, and we all looked around trying to see what was wrong, a picture of a black three headed dog hung above Zia's head. My mind whirled back to when my mum made me watch those stupid Disney movies I remembered Hercules and Hades with his three headed dog Cerberus.

"Hades..." I muttered.

"What?" Zia said oblivious of what had happened. In a blink of an eye Nico was next to us and said to Zia

"Come with me" motioning to a table right at the end of the hall. I blinked back my tears as my other friend left me and I finished the rest of my meal in silence. Thoughts whirled around my head, 'what if I'm not a demigod? What if they kick me out? Will Zia and Damara just forget about me and never want to talk to me again?' I hung my head so my fringe would cover my eyes, I didn't want people to see me cry, I didn't want to be hated or known for being the 'faggot' kid again, not this time.

After everyone had finished eating Chiron stood and cleared his throat "Everyone you may leave now, but remember don't stay out too long or the cleaning harpies won't be blamed for their actions." he chucked and continued "Can I just have a quick word with Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Damara, Phoenix and Zia" I stood and quickly made my way to the table at the front waiting for the others to make their way here. Awkwardly I moved straight to Damara and clung to her like a little lost puppy. Chiron stared at me with eyes full of sadness "Tomorrow, before breakfast we will hold a meeting to discuss what to do with Zia. Do not be late." He turned to me "Unfortunately until you are claimed, you will have to stay in the Hermes cabin as he's the god of travellers. Don't worry; it won't be for long your godly parent will defiantly claim you before dinner tomorrow." Now turning to the others "Can you show the others to their cabins?" They nodded "Good now go and have some fun. But remember my warning, I wasn't joking when I said the harpies won't be blamed for their actions. So don't be caught out after curfew."

We all said our 'goodnights' and went to our cabins. Percy turned to me, I had a sad look on my face, he tried to comfort me by putting his arm around my shoulders and said "Come on, you'll get to see everyone at breakfast. Plus the Hermes cabin will make you feel at home, just watch your things and stay on guard." This didn't help. I stopped in place, looked back in the direction which everyone had gone off in. I sighed. Then slowly turned and followed Percy to my cabin.


	2. The Meeting

**The missing Hearth**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately we do not own PJO **

Chapter 2: Zia's POV.  
>I awoke in the morning to the sound of my alarm, it was ringing loudly in my ear's the sound echoing off the cold dark walls. I groaned, rolled of out my bed and onto the cold wooden floor. I opened my eyes slowly, and looked around me at the dark lifeless cabin. It was such a change from the sunlight that shone into my room every morning when my alarm went off to signalise that it was time to get up. I didn't miss home, truthfully I'm glad to be away from that place. I honestly don't think I could have stayed there much longer, too many bad memories and ghosts of a happier past.<p>

I saw a shape move in the shadows, then a voice came from the shape and said

"Morning sis"

I realised it was my new brother Nico. He walked out of the shadows dressed in black. He was carrying my favourite black off-the-shoulder top which was folded neatly in-between my grey ripped skinny jeans and my black knee high converse. He laid them down on the end of one of the neatly made beds.

"Get dressed. I'll give you a tour of camp after you're ready, but hurry up 'cause I want to show you around before breakfast." he told me, then smiled and vanished back into the shadows where he had come from, only minutes before. I was left completely alone in a strange dark, freezing cabin to get changed and to prepare for a long day ahead.

When I was dressed, I walked to the door of the cabin, took a deep breath, turned the handle and opened the door. I saw the sun was rising in the east; it must have been about 7:45 am. I glanced down and saw Nico sitting on the steps resting his head on the handrail just outside the door. When I stepped out the old wood creaked from under a new weight, Nico turned around to see the source of the noise. He looked at me and asked

"You ready?"

I sighed and replied "As ready as I'll ever be."

He rose from his spot on the steps and offered his hand to me. I took it quickly grateful from the gesture and we started walking off on our tour.  
>He showed me around the entire camp; it was so beautiful and so grand. It looked like it was taken straight out of ancient Greece. Nico talked and told me everything about the camp as we past through it. I listened and tried to pay attention, but my mind kept wondering. There were thousands of thoughts and situations running trough my head.<p>

The ones that kept popping up were 'What is going to happen in the meeting after breakfast?' 'What's going to happen to me?' 'Do they think I'm some kind of monster?' 'Are they going to kick me out of camp?' I had so many questions, ones that would remain unanswered until later.

I was brought out of my thoughts by a horn blowing across the camp. I looked at Nico wondering what was happening, Nico understood my silent question

"That means its time for breakfast." he informed me.

As we walked into the pavilion, for breakfast, everyone was chatting away with the rest of their cabins. I glanced over to the Hermes table, I saw Phoenix sat awkwardly he was between two guys trying to make conversation and get to know him. Then I looked over to see Damara consumed in a conversation with a little girl and a burly guy, they were laughing and smiling, just like they had known each other for years. Nico and I went to our table at the back of the pavilion. We sat just like we had the night before, across the table from each other, then the wind started up again and everyone got the food that they desired, just like they did with dinner last night. For breakfast I had pancakes covered with syrup and black coffee. It was the best meal I had ever had! Everything tasted just how I liked it, it was absolutely perfect.

When everyone had finished their breakfast, Chiron stood and said "Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good nights sleep. Please don't forget about the game of capture the flag later, make sure you have chosen your sides." everyone started discussing the game with their cabin. Chiron had to yell so that ever one would listen "QUIET" the whole room became silent. He continued "I would like Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Phoenix, Damara and Zia. Please can all of you go straight to the big house after you have finished with breakfast."

Everyone started to leave while they were happily chatting away to each other. I just sat frozen in place. All I could do was think 'This is it. The moment of truth is soon.' Nico walked around the table, he smiled at me and asked

"Ready?"

I smiled back, nodding my head trying to look unfazed by what was going to happen in the next hour or two. I don't think I fooled him because he took my hand, squeezed it and tried to comfort my by saying

"Don't worry, I'll protect you."

it didn't really help but I thought it was sweet that he tried. So we ended up walking hand in hand to the big house, but as we left I could have sworn I heard him mutter

"I'm not loosing another sister." under his breath.

As we approached the big house I had to take in its beauty again. It was the biggest building in camp; I guess it could have been used as a temple or for the most important people and their duties. I saw Damara and Phoenix waiting outside looking uncomfortable, probably because Percy and Annabeth were there looking deeply into each others eyes, they was completely oblivious to the world around them. I made a mental note that they must be together. Then I dropped my brother's hand and ran to hug my two best friends

.  
>We entered the big house, Chiron was waiting in a large room, standing on the right side of a giant table next to him sat the camp director, Mr. D, and he sat at the head of the table, the place of the greatest power. We all walked in and they both looked up at us, Percy, Annabeth and Niko sat down around the table. Me, Phoenix and Damara stood awkwardly in the door way. Chiron said<p>

"Come, you three take a seat."

he gestured to three seats at the other end of the table from them. We quietly sat down, all of us thinking the worse, but at the same time hoping for some kind of miracle to happen. We all knew one thing for sure, the meeting has begun.

The five of them continued talking for what seemed like days, but I glanced at my phone to see how long it had been, it turns out it had only been forty-five minutes since we entered this room. 'Ugh. How long is this going to take I thought.' I glanced at my best friends, we all looked sad and scared, I read the looks in their eyes, they said 'How long is this torture going to last?' at least we were all on the same page, having the same unanswered questions.  
>Finally the five of them turned to look at the three of us. Nico's eyes told me that they had come to a conclusion. 'This is it!' my brain screamed at me in terror. I was so scared, I just wanted to cover my ears and sing at the top of my lungs so that no matter what anyone said I wouldn't be able to hear a thing. Mr. D was the first to break the silence; he confirmed what Nico's eyes had told me<p>

"We have come to a conclusion on what to do with you. But before we tell you our verdict, you have the right to know why and how we have come to this."

I looked around at the people in the room, they looked like the end of the world had just been decided and hell was about to be set upon the earth.

Suddenly a light, so bright that it could have blinded you if you looked at it for more than a few seconds, shone into the room from an unknown source. We all cowered and covered our eyes. When the light had died down, to a glow that could have come from a lamp, I looked around the room I was confused of where the sudden burst of light had come from. Then I saw the source, a woman so beautiful that she could have given Aphrodite a run for her money. She had a bright intriguing glow surrounding her slender figure. She opened her mouth and the most-sweetest, calmingly perfect voice I had ever heard came out and formed the words

"I am here to claim my son, Phoenix. I am Hecate, the goddess of magic, and you have my magic as an apology. This is for you my son."

she hands Phoenix a box; he opens it to reveal a silver and bronze bracelet. She continues

"I'm sorry that you've had to wait this long, but I wanted to come here in person to claim you. I hope that you won't hold it against me. I would hate to get off to a bad start."

Phoenix looked like he was about to cry, but he cleared his throat and croaked out

"Thank you so much mom. I would never hold it against you. I'm grateful that you've come."

he grinned up at his mom, he looked so proud to be claimed as her son. Hecate turned to Mr. D and Chiron

"I apologise for interrupting your meeting. Goodbye" and with that she vanished.

Mr. D again broke the silence and stated

"Now that all of you have been claimed, and two of you have received gifts from your godly parents,can we please return to what we were going to tell you?" he added sarcastically.

When he said that two of us had received gifts me and Phoenix looked at Damara she looked down and blushed we followed her gaze and saw that she had a small bag and a bow laying across her lap. 'Great' I thought 'Both my friends got a gift from their godly parents, and all I get is the knowledge that I'm a child of Hades the god of the stupid underworld!' 'This is just my luck, all my life everyone had gotten things and I get nothing!' Chiron coughed and turned his gaze to me

"Now Zia, we called this meeting because you have been claimed by Hades, one of the big three. Being a child of the big three is extremely dangerous. It will affect you, everyone around you and the gods. We have tried to stop this from happening," Chiron sighed and retold the oath that was made. "A long time ago the big three made an oath to not have anymore children with humans. Both Zeus and Poseidon have broken the oath, but now it seems that Hades has too." I glanced at Nico, he looked down at his hands quickly, knowing my question but not wanting to answer it. Mr. D butted in

"So now we have come to the conclusion that we shall allow you to go on the next quest, if chosen, to prove yourself. Then after if you return the gods shall take into consideration what happened on the quest and everything you have done, then determine what they think is best to do with you."

Chiron added "Any questions?" I cleared my throat "Do I have a choice in this?" I asked

"NO" Mr. D snapped.


	3. The first day

**The missing Hearth**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately we do not own PJO**

Chapter three – Phoenix POV

I woke bright and early, on a cold cramped floor. Memories of the day before came rushing back to me. My eyes filled up with tears; I sat up trying to distract myself, I glanced quickly at one of the others camper's clocks it read '6:13'

_ 'Great'_ I thought' _47 minutes till breakfast_.' I decided that a walk around camp would distract me, I sat up quickly and realised I was still in the same clothes as yesterday, my top was absolutely disgusting

_'Maybe I could find a top around here_'

I thought stepping out of the cabin and inhaling deeply, the air around here was so much cleaner then in the middle of New York, I exhaled and scanned the camp for any sign of a shop, I noticed a small shack with bright orange tops hanging outside '_Yuck'_ was the first thing that crossed my mind, I decided to see if there was any others tops around here before I committed myself to wearing one of those things, I realised there was none anywhere around this so-called 'Camp' gloomily I walked towards the shack, the closer I got to the tops the more uglier they looked, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous they were I grabbed one and took it off the hanger and held it up to myself, it was a perfect fit.

Looking down I realised how dirty I actually was so I decided to go for a shower, luckily last night Percy had pointed some things out he thought was important and one of them being the showers. I walked for awhile just taking in the camp; I noticed how big it was and how much beautiful it was in sunrise, smiling to myself I reached the showers and took one of the towels and started walking to the furthest away cubicle. Switching the water on I already felt much cleaner, I stepped under the fast running water and sighed. I cursed, realising there was no shampoo or conditioner, I decided to not wash my hair and leave it until I could find some, the water was getting cold so I quickly scrubbed myself and stepped outside the spray, wrapping the warm towel around me, I remembered that today there was a meeting about what to do with Zia, I still don't know what they mean by that, I mean she's the most wonderful person I have ever known along with Damara. Pulling on my jeans something fell out and clanged against the floor, curious I looked down and saw my cell laying there, I grabbed it and hugged it never thinking I would ever miss it so much, dragging my top over my head and running my fingers through my hair, I looked in the mirror and decided that was the best I could do. Guessing that it was probably past half-six I started walking to the dinner pavilion, I switched my cell on and checked to see if I had any messages, there was five, scrolling down one named stood out, it was Damara, I clicked on it and read

'_Cheer up sweetie, it'll be alright 3' _

Smiling to myself and not watching where I was going I walked straight into some other campers, shocked I quickly apologised and started walking away as fast as I could.

"Wait!"

someone shouted and I turned to see that the person I walked into was another Hermes camper, Connor I think, with his twin Travis shortly behind they jogged towards me and the one I thought was Connor asked

"You're the new one right?"

I nodded my head in answer, to scared to speak

"I guess you're going to breakfast, do you want to walk with us?"

I looked up and saw a cheeky grin dance across his face

"Yeah, if that's alright?"

I found myself smiling. We reached the dinner pavilion and I sat between both brothers. A few moments later Zia walked in holding hands with Nico, I stared at her quizzically; I could see the worry in her eyes even though she tried to hide it with a fake smile, I watched as they walked to the far end and sat opposite each other. Chiron stood at the end of breakfast and made the dreaded announcement for us to go to the big house once we were done; I quickly said my goodbyes, stood and left.

I stood outside, waiting for everyone to show up, first came Damara we hugged and chatted, but soon after Percy and Annabeth showed up looking lovingly into each other eyes creating an atmosphere of awkwardness. We all waited in silence for Nico and Zia to show up, I watched a few birds dance in the sky so majestically, Nico and Zia finally came into view and I noticed again they were holding hands, making a mental note to ask what was going on when suddenly I had Zia's arms wrapped around me tightly, returning the gesture I stood straight as Chiron and Mr. D had shown up inviting us all inside.  
>Me, Zia and Damara sat awkwardly on one side of the table with Mr. D at the head and the rest opposite us, not really playing attention I sat twiddling my thumbs and playing with my hair, I could feel the tension hanging in the air. I noticed Zia kept checking the time on her phone getting more anxious each time. The meeting went silent; I could tell that a decision had been made<p>

Mr. D was the first to speak "We have come to a conclusion on what to do with you. But before we tell you our verdict, you have the right to know why and how we have come to this."

When suddenly a light so bright came bursting through expelling any shadows within a room, seconds later the most beautiful woman I have ever seen stepped into the room, at first I thought she had come for Zia, my whole body shook from the thought of this, thinking it would be the last time I ever saw my best friend. The lady she spoke in trance-like voice

"I am here to claim my son, Phoenix. I am Hecate, the goddess of magic, and you have my magic as an apology. This is for you my son."

She handed me a breath-taking box; with shaking hands I opened it to reveal a silver and bronze bracelet with little charms dangling of it, I closed it and stared back at my new mom, She continued

"I'm sorry that you've had to wait this long, but I wanted to come here in person to claim you. I hope that you won't hold it against me. I would hate to get off to a bad start."

Tears started to fill my eyes but I blinked them back and was finally able to croak out

"Thank you so much mom. I would never hold it against you. I'm grateful that you've come."

I grinned at her and she smiled back, I sense of pride started to fill me, I finally had someone to call mom. I noticed her turn to Mr. D and Chiron

"I apologise for interrupting your meeting. Goodbye" she said and with that she vanished.

Mr. D again broke the silence and stated

"Now that all of you have been claimed, and two of you have received gifts from your godly parents, can we please return to what we were going to tell you?" he added with a sarcastic snare.

The room fell silent until Chiron coughed and turned to face Zia

"Now Zia, we called this meeting because you have been claimed by Hades, one of the big three. Being a child of the big three is extremely dangerous. It will affect you, everyone around you and the gods. We have tried to stop this from happening," Chiron noticed our looks, sighed and retold the oath that was made. "A long time ago the big three made an oath to not have anymore children with humans. Both Zeus and Poseidon have broken the oath, but now it seems that Hades has too."

Mr. D pushed in "So now we have come to the conclusion that we shall allow you to go on the next quest, if chosen, to prove yourself. Then after if you return the gods shall take into consideration what happened on the quest and everything you have done, then determine what they think is best to do with you."

Chiron added "Any questions?"

fighting back an urge to stand up for her I heard Zia speak the first time during the meeting

"Do I have a choice in this?" she asked

"NO" Mr. D snapped.

Chiron ended the meeting and we walked out into the bright, dazzling day, sighing I turned to face Zia

"I'm sure it'll be fine, you're so amazing you'll just blow the gods away!" I said

she hugged me and muttered some excuse about clothes and walked of to her cabin

"I'll go" Nico piped up and melted into the shadows once again.

Finally knowing who my godly parent is I decided to go check out my home, whilst walking I pulled my cell out, it was ringing again and typed a quick message to my dad

'_Don't worry, everything is fine. Can't talk now, call you later. Ok? X_

_'_putting my phone in my back pocket I pushed open the door to my new home. There was a hum of magic around the place, I knew then that I belonged there, looking round I noticed that there was no other Hecate campers, so I chose the only single bed. Deciding to explore around I saw a folded piece of paper resting on top of one of the chest-of-draws with my name in the most beautiful handwriting I have ever saw opening it I read

'_Phoenix, I hope you find your new home to your liking. I know you may have a few questions and I'll try and answer any of them in this letter. Now, the charm bracelet I gave you is your most powerful weapon use it wisely, you will find four charms, a book, sword, staff and shield, each charm represents a real object just pull the charm of the bracelet and it will come to life.__  
><em>_Love, your mom__  
><em>_P.s page 45 may be helpful for what's to come__  
><em>_p.p.s Check the wardrobe'_

__Closing the note I looked around the room for any sign of a wardrobe when I noticed two double doors, deciding to check them out I pulled them open and gasped, all my clothes from my apartment was in there along some new ones

'Yes!' I silently screamed 'No more orange shirts for me!'

sending a silent prayer to mom I quickly got changed and sat on the end of my bed, pulling the box from my old jeans out, I opened it and took out the charm bracelet, staring closer I could make out the details of the runes delicately carved around each charm, I opened the clasp and attached the bracelet to my wrist, snapping the book off I sat in amazement as it grew in size. I stared down and noticed that the title was in ancient Greek, I sat for awhile just looking at the title until I suddenly realised I could read it. Flipping to page forty-five I read the title '_Teleportation_' Confused I read on there was something about imaging the place you want to go and reciting the spell

'_locis movemur_ '

I kept repeating it to myself until I was sure it was memorised, intrigued I flipped to the front and saw the books were organised in categories. I turned to the '_offensive spells_' part and started to read again, I memorised as much as I could, I sighed, giving in I touched the book to the bracelet it shrank in size and reattached itself. I stood up and stretched when a knock came from the door, deciding to try out the teleporting spell I fixed the image of the outside of the cabin and repeated the spell, a sense of being ripped from the world filled me and shook me to the very core but as if it never happened I was back in the world, blinking from the new bright light I realised it worked silently praising myself I turned to see the bottle of blonde hair of Damara

"BOO" I whispered into her ear

she screamed and turned

smiling I said "Hello" and hugged her.

* * *

><p>Damara's POV<p>

Walking back from the meeting I sighed and pulled out the timetable, I saw that I had archery practice with Phoenix, I decided that I should go to his new cabin and walk down with him, so I changed direction and headed off to his new cabin. Stepping up I knocked the bronze knocker and stood back to admire the rune filled stones that made the cabin. Out of nowhere someone whispered

"BOO"

down my ear, turning to hit the attacker I saw Phoenix and hugged him.

"Where did you come from?" I asked with my voice full of excitement

he replied "I learnt how to teleport"

Grinning I asked if he could take us to the archery range

"Sure," he said "grab my arm"

and with that we were ripped from the world and placed in front of targets. Smiling I pulled my bow out of bag and motioned for Phoenix to take one from the rack, we walked slowly to the line where we were supposed to fire from. Having never fired an arrow before I felt it strangely easy and natural like I was supposed to do this, which I guess I was being a child of Apollo and all. Letting go the arrow whistled through the air and sunk itself straight into the bull's-eye, high fiving Phoenix I watched him have ago where he hit the red part, congratulating him, we each passed the time firing more arrows. Horns sounded and we knew it was time for lunch, walking hand-in-hand we reached the dinner pavilion and I watched as Phoenix asked directions to the Hecate table where he sat alone humming to himself, the food was served again and I stood with the rest of the camp to scrape some of my food into the brazier for dad. Sitting back down I picked at my ham sandwich not feeling particularly hungry and mulled over what had happened in the meeting hoping there won't be any quests soon. Looking round I noticed Percy staring quizzically at the brazier but I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. Checking the timetable Will Solace gave me last night I saw I had ancient Greek lessons with Chiron, standing I walked to the classroom thinking about capture the flag wondering which team I'd be and hoping it would be the same as Zia and Phoenix.

Chiron beckoned us into the class and I sat for an hour doodling in my notebook. Stepping out into the bright sun I smiled glad for this to be my home. Checking my phone I saw a message of my mom, saying she would pick me up to go get clothes and all the other important stuff, quickly typing a reply I put it back in my pocket and saw that was the last lesson of the day. For the first time I decided I should explore camp and see what there is to do here.

Glancing around I saw a path leading down a hill to a unknown place, walking in that direction I blast of wind hit me carrying the smell of salt water, hoping I was right I rushed to the top of the hill to see a beautiful beach and stumbled down the other side and slipped my shoes of to feel the sand between my toes. To go to the beach was a rarity to me, I've only been once and that was when mom had a business meeting in Florida that was my best week ever. People seemed to think having a rich parent was the best; yeah it had its benefits, like expensive clothes and all the top of the range stuff but there was the simple stuff you missed out on like actually seeing your parent everyday and having someone to talk to instead of the butler. Walking to sea I saw a figure far out playing with dolphins, laughing I waded in further and waved to them seeing the jet black hair I realised it was Percy, wading further I met him half way. Touching one of the dolphins that had followed him was not like I expected, it was all wet and rubbery. We stood and talked for awhile he filled me in on the rules of capture in the flag and I was happy to find out that all magical items were allowed. Glancing at my watch and saying a quick goodbye I worked my way back the beach and up the hill and down to see if my mom was at the top of the hill. Not seeing my mom I went to tell Chiron and Will that I was of into New York. After stepping out of the big house, I saw a woman with mouse blonde hair with a business suit, instantly I knew it was her, I ran up the hill and gave her an awkward hug and walked further down the hill to the limo. Sitting down I heard my mom trying to start a conversation with me, but she soon fell silent. We reached our street and I saw a familiar face Jeff, our butler, was standing waiting to open our door, stepping out I saw the impressive building I spent all my childhood in, memories flooded back and I smiled. Pushing the button for the door I stood in silence with my mom and Jeff flowing silently behind. The elevator binged and the doors slid open jumping in I tapped the 24th floor button or in other words the penthouse. Reaching to top I quickly ran to my room and hugged all my old teddies, flinging the doors open to my walk in wardrobe I grabbed my new bag and pushed everything in there including all my shoes and other bags, I heard Jeff laugh from the door way

"Need any help miss?" he said between chuckles

I replied with a simple "Yes"

and he moved to my chest-of-draws and emptied them, placing everything into my small bag. Hearing my phone I pulled them out and saw a message of Phoenix I clicked on it and read

'_Heard you're out. Grab me some toiletries while your out please?'_

typing a quick _'Sure'_I asked Jeff to grab some from the bathroom and place them in my bag along with all the other stuff I needed. Taking one last sweeping glance across my room I stepped out and hugged my mom along with a simple goodbye and left for the limo, telling the driver to put his foot down so I don't miss dinner I kicked back and relaxed. Reaching half-blood hill. I looked up to see Phoenix waiting for me, thanking the driver I ran up the hill and hugged him to hear the horn, grinning I handed him the stuff he wanted, taking his offer to be teleported, I grabbed his elbow and we were ripped from the world again.


	4. Shopping & Capture the flag

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately we don't own PJO**

**Zia's POV**

After I left I walked straight to my cabin. I could hear foot steps following me. I had tears streaming down my face. Finally I reached the cabin door, I opened it quickly then slammed it shut in Nico's face. Nico stepped into the cabin a few seconds after.

"What's wrong?" he asked

I tried to lie "Nothing" I replied

but my voice broke as I spoke, and I suddenly dropped to my knees unable to stop crying and stay in control.

Nico sighed and dropped to his knees too, he wrapped his arms around my body. "I know something is up." he stated.

I didn't say anything, hoping that he would just leave me alone, he didn't. When he got that I wasn't going to say anything he changed the subject and asked "Wanna go get some new clothes?" I nodded, glad for the change of subject and hopeful distraction, and tried to cheer myself up a bit. I also knew I defiantly needed more clothes, I only had the ones I had on and the ones from yesterday.

He took me to this little shop that sold everything I needed. I got some new skinny jeans, some t-shirts with random slogans on them that ended up making us laugh so much we ended up crying, and of course I got some hoodies. I ended up with bags and bags full of clothes as I went to pay Nico quickly took his card out and payed for it all, smiling I thanked him and we left. After Nico took me to a shoe store that sold Converse, so I ended up with a few pairs of them as well. I was glad that I had new clothes and happy that I had an amazing brother. We had to also get some toiletries, it wasn't the most fun shopping but it had to be done. After shopping we ended up in Starbucks and sat down with a coffee, we talked about ourselves for awhile but when we both fell silent he asked

"Shall we go back?" he stood up and stretched

"Fine." I groaned and stood up ready to leave.

"You sound so enthusiastic." he said sarcastically.

We ended up shadow travelling back into our cabin, and worked together to get everything put away. Nico looked at the time on my phone, which I threw onto my bed when we got back

, "We should get ready. Capture the flag will be starting soon. You need to find out whose team you're on and what job you get given." he told me. I grabbed my phone and shoved it into my pocket "I'm ready." I said.

Again we ended up walking out of our cabin holing hands. When we reached where everyone else was gathered in a circle around with Annabeth, in the middle, waiting to receive their orders for the game ahead. We walked over to our friends

"Hey" me and Nico said in unison

we both blushed and look down at our Converse.

"What team has chosen you?" Damara asked me.

"Ummmmm, I'm not sure. What team is everyone else on?" I asked.

"We're on red." Phoenix said.

I turned to Nico "Annabeth who's team are we on?" Nico asked, I silently thanked him

"Ours stupid." Annabeth replied.

"Okay then. Red it is."I said

I sighed with relief that I was with my friends and smiled at everyone who looked my way since we was all on the same team I thought it couldn't hurt, yet it was completely out of character. Everyone went back to being caught up in what part they was going to play and what they had to do, they acted like this game was life or death.

I was looking at my friends then I felt something touch my hand I glanced down and saw Nico's hand, I looked up at him he smiled at me then pulled me closer to him and whispered in my ear

"Come with me."

I nodded my head and let him lead me away from everyone. We ended up behind a group of tall, wide trees, I looked at him

"What's up?" I asked.

He instantly looked down at his hands, which were moving constantly, he turned a bright shade of red, and I wondered why he was so nervous.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck and to be careful out there. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to bear it, please just promise me you won't mess around and that you'll stay on your guard no matter how the situation looks. And just remember that thinks can change quickly, be ready for anything to happen sweetie." he whispered to me

he had closed his eyes, but after a few seconds of silence he opened his eyes and look me straight into mine, neither of us could look away. The wind blew, and a loose strand of my hair moved out of place and went across my face, Nico reached and brushed it away but let his hand stayed on my cheek, and then he slowly leaned in and kissed my other cheek with his sweet perfect lips.

After he pulled back we ended up standing in silence for a few minutes

"The game will be starting soon, we better get back, otherwise we wont know our parts, and they'll end up starting without us." he said breaking our silence. So we made our way back to the group hand in hand, ready to act just how we had around everyone else before.

* * *

><p><strong>Everyone's POV<strong>

As the game begun everyone ran to their positions, they were all bouncing in their spots from the adrenalin running through their veins, and their instincts starting to take control of them. Each team hoping that they have the plan and strategy to capture the other teams flag, protect their own and win the game.

Zia, Damara and Phoenix were put on duty to guard the red team's flag.

"This is so boring." Phoenix whined and dropped his sword he had been given by his mom then sat on the ground.

"I know." Damara agreed and unnotched her arrow, and brought it down then sat on the floor with Phoenix.

"Guys, keep your eyes open. The other team's members could be anywhere."Zia nagged

"Stop nagging." Phoenix and Damara said in unison.

Zia just rolled her eyes; her friends were relaxing in the middle of a game this was just like them. She kept her position on guard while Phoenix and Damara talked from the floor.  
>"Zia come sit with us and relax." Damara said.<p>

Just then there was a rusting in the trees and all of them froze in place. They slowly got up and turned to see the source of the noise, it was one of the Ares cabin, a female. She came out of the trees

"Hand over the flag children." she hissed, her voice sounded full of power and dangerous, the hissing echoed off the trees and ended up sounding like a snake had spoken instead of a camper.

"If you want it come and get it." Phoenix spat at her.

"Bring it on idiot." she spat back at Phoenix.

Everyone ended up in a huge fight; it wasn't fair, three against one. The odds were in our favour. The final blow was made to the Ares camper was made and she fell to her knees, Damara had her bow loaded and it was pushed against the Blue team's member's throat.

They all decided it was best to keep her held captive. A roar of cheers erupted from somewhere deep in the forest, it echoed through the trees. They knew what had happened, someone had won and considering that the red teams flag was safe with Phoenix, Damara and Zia guarding it, they knew that they had won the game.

Pride and happiness ran through the red teams veins, but humiliation and revenge ran through the blue teams. There was tension in the air between both teams; you could feel a fight brewing between them ready to break out at any moment.

After a while everything died down. Everyone left the forest and some went to gather around a camp fire, but everyone else scattered and just went and did their own thing. Phoenix, Damara, Zia, Nico, Annabeth and Percy all went down to the beach, happily chatting away, not exactly knowing what they was going to do, but the one thing they did know was that they was going to celebrate their victory, well at least till curfew.

The beach was beautiful at night, the midnight blue sky that looked almost black in places, and the sand that looked white in the moonlight, which had approached quickly after the game. They ended up lighting a fire and all gathered around it to keep warm.

"How are you three enjoying camp so far then?" Percy asked.

"It's different. I think its going to take some time to get used to it, but I do like it so far, I'm just not sure yet. After a week I'll tell you for sure." Damara answered and smiled at Percy.

"I like it, well I think, but I do miss my old life. I mean it's not bad or anything least there's no bullying here, but it's just a huge change and just like Damara said it's going to take some time to get used to it." Phoenix answered.

Zia glanced at Nico; they smiled, blushed then looked down at their hands.

"I love it here." Zia answered

Phoenix and Damara raised their eyebrows she had never loved a place they both thought they didn't know what had gotten into her, Percy and Annabeth looked a little shocked it wasn't the answer they was expecting from her since she hadn't been there very long. Nico smiled and choked on a laugh that wanted to come out, but then he ended up blushing even more, he didn't know if she was deluded or if it was because of him.

She spoke again "I mean yes I miss my old life at home where everything made sense, but just being here I feel like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Its like my life was missing a huge part, and now that we've come here I feel like I've found the missing piece and now I'm complete." Zia explained.

The group continued talking until curfew. When it was time to go they put out the fire and walked from the beach to the cabins, they stopped and said their goodnights to each other and then continued to their own cabins for a goodnights sleep after along day. None of them knew what tomorrow held, it was scary to think about what could happen in a single day. Each camper always hopes that tomorrow it would be a normal boring day like it was before the monsters and gods. But then secretly hoping the complete opposite, they hoped that it will be full of adventures. And maybe, just maybe a quest, one that will change everything that they know.


	5. The Prophecy

**The Missing Hearth**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately we don't own PJO *cry* **

**Percy's POV**

I woke up, yawned and stretched out my legs, sitting up I glance around the small cabin I call home. With a grin I remembered the capture the flag game last night, this was one of the times I was happy to carry the curse of Achilles. In the background I heard a horn go of to signalise the start of lunch, jumping up I grabbed a clean tee and some shorts and threw them on and raced down to the pavilion. Looking towards the brazier I noticed Hestia was missing again, this was the third day in a row. Throwing myself down on the empty bench of my cabin I decided to ask Chiron if he knew if something had happened. I glanced up to see Phoenix and Damara walk in flanked by Nico and Zia, holding hands once again; I smiled at waved at them. As breakfast was served I noticed I had blue pancakes and maple syrups, thanking the gods I stood up and scraped some in the fire for my dad and Hestia hoping she was all right.

I sat down again and shovelled the pancakes into myself at such an alarming rate I got quizzical looks from the other campers, shrugging I slowed down and actually chewed my food once. As, I put my knife and fork down I'd noticed Chiron had stood up and was leaving, knocking the table as I stood I chased after Chiron shouting his name. Once I caught up with him I saw he was talking to Rachel Dare, our oracle, catching my breath I heard him say

"Percy?" in a questioning tone

taking my time to reply I finally blurted out "Well, umm I was wondering if you knew if anything had happened to Hestia 'cause I usually see her at meals sitting at the brazier but she hasn't been there for a couple of days and I was just wondering if everything was alright.."

after saying it I realised how stupid I was Hestia may look about eight but she is a God after all she can look after her self, blushing I looked up to see Chiron laughing

"Its not funny"

I snapped and went to storm off when mist started to ooze out of Rachel mouth suddenly the voice of Delphi filled the camp

"_Six will travel from land to land_

_Three old, three new hand in hand_

_Some will find an ally at sea_

_But all will find where the missing hearth may be"_

As Rachel returned to normal she looked at us and saw our shocked expressions

"what? Is there something wrong with my hair?" She asked innocently.

Chiron turned to me "gather the councillors of all the cabins and meet me at the big house, I think we've just found another quest"

he turned and trotted off. Walking back to the dinner pavilion I bumped into Katie Gardener

"Oh hey Percy" she said

"Hey, Umm could you do me a favour Katie?" I asked

"Sure" she replied

"Well could you get all the councillors of the cabins there's a meeting at the big house ASAP"

"Oh yeah that's fine, I guess I'll see you there bye!" she shouted

as she walked of back in the direction of the pavilion. Sighing I decided to go find Annabeth knowing that she would probably still be looking over Daedalus laptop. Knocking on the Athena cabin door I shouted

"Rise and shine wise girl, Chiron wants us"

Stepping in I looked around I saw her hunchbacked scribbling down notes from the silver laptop with the delta sign on there. The light of the screen illuminated the face and I could tell she's been up all night

"You have to sleep sometime you know?" I said matter-of-factly

"shut up seaweed brain" she chucked and stood up stretching in the progress, walking forward I hugged her and took her hand leading her to the big house.

Once we were all settled around the table tennis table I saw there was a new addition, Phoenix was sat in the corner looking like a lost sheep forgetting he was the only Hecate camper and must be the councillor. Motioning my head in his direction I stood up and walked over there

"S'up dude?" I asked

" Oh well umm, I know its stupid but its just the last time I was here they wanted to take Zia to Zeus and well you know" he tailed off

"It'll be fine Phoenix, nothing bad ever happens in these types of meetings" Annabeth said with a voice full of empathy.

Smiling at him I turned to watch Mr. D and Chiron walk in, seeing there troubled looks I feared we had just lied to Phoenix, Chiron cleared his throat and in a voice lack of anything her spoke

"Earlier today a prophecy was given by our Oracle, normally these would be given after a quest however it seems to be the other way around this time"

whispers broke out through the room I saw Phoenix gulp

"silence, now after myself and Mr. D studied the wording of the prophecy and what Percy told me earlier this morning, We believe the Goddess Hestia has been captured and that Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Zia, Phoenix and Damara are meant to find her" Chiron continued

Panic broke out one of the Nikes children, Becca Page I think her name was spoke up

"How can a goddess be captured?"

"Well" Chiron started "a Mortal would be unable to do so however another god or maybe a titan would be easily able to take a God or Goddess. Now everyone I believe you may go except Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Phoenix. Oh and Becca could you please fetch Zia and Damara please?"

She nodded and scurried of with the rest. Putting a arm around Phoenix

"Don't cry, its not that bad its just a quest, I've been on four of them already, no harm done"

He smiled at me but I could see the sadness in his eyes hoping Zia and Damara would cheer him up we all sat in deadly silence waiting for them. Only minutes passed but it felt like hours had dragged by when Zia finally emerged through the doorway seeing Nico's head snap up and a smile cross his lips I must remember to ask him what's going on between those two. Finally, Damara stumbled through the doorway too, her face flush from probably running Phoenix stood to hug them then realised how serious the situation was and sat back down slowly.

Once Zia and Damara had been filled in on what's happening,and the prophecy read to us after Annabeth demanded, the reality of it all hit us. How do we save a goddess? Annabeth asked about supplies and I thought I heard Chiron say a boat

"Boat?" I asked dumb founded

Mr. D spoke for the first time "Yes a boat Peter, did you not hear the first line of the prophecy? L-a-n-d-t-o-l-a-n-d" he spelled it out for me.

"Oh" I sulked.

Annabeth and Chiron kept discussing when we should leave and what we may need. Getting bored I decided to watch the Apollo kids during their archery class out the window.

"Now as you will be searching the land and may need a quick getaway we asked a favour of Hecate"

Chiron lifted a pure black necklace where a boat and a black heart hung

"the boat has been disguised as a charm much like Phoenix's weapons just throw it into the water and the boat will appear. Now Zia as you know your Dad is a very busy person but this arrived for you this morning" indicating the black heart "I believe this may be very helpful for your quest however you must figure out how to use it yourself"

Zia leaned forward and gingerly took the necklace of Chiron and mumbled thanks. At first the necklace seemed to be plane but beautiful intricate pictures were carved in there, I saw one of the three headed dog Cerberus. The meeting came to a conclusion when we decided we should leave after lunch. I left the big house and took a deep breath, the smell of the sea calmed and the soft grass under my feet felt wonderful.

* * *

><p><strong>Phoenix's POV<strong>

As I pulled my cabin door open I collapsed on my bed, I know what you think how pathetic I am for crying over going on a quest most would die for, but its not that I just wish it didn't happen because it means afterwards Zia has to face the council of the gods. I just wished a quest never came and Zia could stay with us indefinitely. I pulled my spell book of my charm bracelet and watched it expand in amazement. Flicking through the pages looking for the right spell i saw the other day. Finding it I pulled out my asos mullti-check backpack I spoke the words

"_facere spatium_"

opening the top I shoved my arm in right to the shoulder, realising I had just made unlimited space I jumped up and folded all my clothes into it completely emptying my wardrobe and draws. Grinning I pulled out my phone and typed a quick message to Zia

_ 'Found a great spell to make the backpacks have unlimited space. If you want it done bring yours over, oh and if you see the others offer them too please :3 3'_

sliding my phone down I sat down and looked for more helpful spells. 10 minutes later there was a knock at my door shouting 'Come in' I saw Annabeth and Zia talking greeting them I saw the four backpacks Zia was holding a red converse bag and a blue one, Annabeth had a sea green one with a trident on and a plain silver one. Taking them of them I quickly recited the spell over each one and checked they worked

"Nice matching ones, if you carry this on you'll be dating soon" I joked

handing Zia the two converse bags back I saw her face go bright red and heard her mumble some excuse and walked out, saying goodbye to Annabeth and asking her to tell Percy what a wonderful backpack he has I shut the door and continued to search for spells. Finding one I thought may be useful I marked the page and shut the book holding it up to my bracelet and watching it shrink back to its normal size.

Deciding that I should probably practice with my staff and sword, as I've never used them before, I walked down to the arena. Stepping through the pillars I snapped of my staff of and felt it grow in my hands, over the past few days I've been practicing using offensive spells with my hands and some of them I don't even have to speak to cast, aiming at a dummy I watched as an orb of orange flames flew out of the end of the staff and straight to the heart of the dummy where it caused the dunnmy to burst into flames. Twirling around I spun the staff above my head and swung it down cutting another dummy in half. For a half hour I practised casting spells with the staff and as a weapon when I noticed a shadowy figure in the corner watching me I stepped closer and noticed it was Nico, waving I watched as he melted away into the shadows. I turned to start practicing with my staff again when I gasped Nico was less then a font from me holding a stygian ice sword in his hand

"How did you do that?" I demanded

"Shadow travel, I'm teaching it Zia but I can hear you can teleport yourself too. You won't learn anything from those dummies you know? You need a real opponent"

and that's when he lunged forward, sword held high. Shocked I closed me eyes and felt the familiar feeling of being ripped from the world opening them I saw I was on the other side of the arena, Nico chuckled

"Do your worst then" he taunted

I raised my staff and fired a fireball straight at him, he raised his sword and deflected it. Moving in we started to circle each looking for a moment to strike. I stumbled on a rock and Nico came straight at me and raised his sword, I knocked it sideways with my staff and waited for him to strike but before that could happen the shadows engulfed him and he was gone turning in a circle I looked around unable to see him I lowered my staff. I heard a war cry behind me, stumbling I raised my staff and shouted

"STATIVA"

Nico froze, I could see him straining against the spell

"Not so tough are you now?"

I chucked I released the spell

"Draw?" he asked

"if you say so".

Hearing the horn I reattached my staff and teleported back to my cabin to make sure I had everything. I swung my backpack on and headed out to the dinner pavilion.

Dinner passed in a blur people wished us well hopping it all works out. I ate in silence praying to any god who will listen. Chiron stood and spoke

"As you may all know a quest has been granted today to Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Zia, Damara and Phoenix. From all of us we wish you well and bid you a safe return".

Embarrassed I stood and quickly joined the others at the end of the pavilion. We turned and walked towards half-blood hill to an unknown place


	6. London

Disclaimer: Still don't own PJO

Damara's POV  
>Percy pulled up outside New York harbour, slamming the door, I turned to say goodbye to the city that I grew up in closing the door, I turned to wave, and making sure I remembered every single detail so I will never forget it until the day we return. I followed Annabeth down to edge of the water where we watched Zia throw the charm into the river I counted 1…2…3...4…. Gloom stated to grow in the pit of my stomach, there was still no boat. Bubbles started to burst to the surface I listened to the musical pops each bubble made. A ship rose from the sea, the drops of water cascaded down the side returning to where they belong "Nice work" I congratulated Zia. We waited for the ship to fully dry its self so that Percy could manipulate the water to bring the boat closer towards the end, where he leapt on board and knocked the gangway down, taking the hand he offered me I pulled myself up onto the deck, taken aback by the enchanting beauty of the place I spun around trying to take in more of the wonderful ship. I turned to help Phoenix up onto the boat, I looked down at his outfit and realised what a stupid choice he made "Skinny jeans? You don't even a jacket, your going to freeze out at sea!" I said exasperated.<br>"What? They're pretty, plus they are stretchy so it's all right. Anyway they match my suspenders and I have my converse outsiders on which are designed for these types of things!" he argued back. I laughed at him, only Phoenix would argue those points. Annabeth called us under the deck, I couldn't help look around the place, and it was absolutely amazing! There was four bedrooms, each was an adequate size, with two bathrooms each end of the boat.  
>Once we were all settled into the comfy sofas in the living area, which was in the middle of the boat, Annabeth pulled out a map of the world and started to mark big red X's over certain countries, one of them I noticed was Greece. "What'cha marking on there?" Zia piped up<br>"I'm marking countries that we should probably visit, but its going to take days maybe even weeks to reach these. I don't see what we can do! Seaweed brain how fast did you say this boat can go?" Annabeth asked  
>"80 knots, I'm sure of it" he said with a voice full of confidence.<br>"Well" Phoenix started "errm I was thinking if we headed up to Rhode Island and packed the boat up there, well I could teleport us to London, then we could go from there?"  
>"Are you sure? I mean will it not drain you or maybe even kill you?" Zia asked her face showed signs of concern.<br>"Yeah, its not like your shadow travelling, where you travel the same distance just faster, I've been reading up on it, its quite brilliant really I just use dimensions as like little gateways and the distance in there can be so much shorter there." he stated  
>"Lets do that then, hey why we're there I could get some shopping done. I've always loved England it's the best and they're all so cute over there with there little accents." I smiled around the room where I saw looks of agreement on all the faces. Annabeth wrapped up the meeting and told Percy to head the boat to Rhode Island, it turns out him being the child of the god of the sea means he has perfect co ordination on the sea and most ships do his bidding.<br>10 minutes later I was in my bright blue two piece, on the deck, the sun dazzled brightly somewhere off to the west, I could feel the heat dance across my skin as I threw my bow and bag on the floor, its become quite a normality for me to take my bow everywhere with me now. Laying out a towel I sighed and laid down. 'I wish everyday was like this.' I thought. Deciding to make the most of this quite timeI thought over all the things that have happened over the last couple of days, I still believe this a dream and I'm going to wake up and laugh it off in the morning, but deep down I hope its not, I've made real friends in Percy and Annabeth and I've had the most fun I've ever had in my life. I go to reach for my cell but I remember that Annabeth made us all leave them at camp because as she described 'there like beacons which will tell every monster in a mile radius where you are' surprisingly none of us have ever had trouble with technology nor with any monsters which is supposedly strange as Zia is a child of the big three. Chiron seems to believe that sub consciously Phoenix has been protecting all three of us. Smiling at the thought of how I much of a good friend to he is to us I sat up to hear the shout of "Land, Ho!" by Percy. Jumping up I slung by bow and arrows on my back and jogged down the stairs to my cabin, where I threw on my clothes and fixed my hair. Once I was done, I went to join the others to stand at the gangway.  
>We docked at Rhode Island where we came across a massive problem. We didn't know how to turn the boat back into a charm. We tried everything, Zia tried touching her necklace to the boat much like Phoenix does to his charms, in frustration I kicked a log, cussing I realised my mistake and knew I would have a sore toe in the morning. In the end we decided to see if Phoenix could shrink it so it would fit in any of our bags until we could find a rainbow and Iris message Chiron about it. A half hour later Phoenix had found the right spell and we had Percy in the right position to catch it. With a quick shout of "RESILIO" the boat was the size of a normal kid's boat. I slipped it into the bag that I got as a present off of my dad and we headed for a dinner to grab something to eat before we went to London.<br>Once we had all filled our stomachs in a cosy dinner called "The Coast Guard House" Annabeth led us round back where we all joined hands and Phoenix pulled us all from this world.  
>London was a lot different to what I expected, firstly the time difference, we left the dinner at 8:00pm however it was now 12 midnight according to the nifty big ben. Dismayed I realised there was no chance we was going to get a hotel this late. I wish we could sleep on the boat but Percy thought water was too far away to bother and that we should just find a quite place and pitch a tent. I heard Phoenix muttering about "How people shouldn't be in this condition". We reached a nice cluster of trees in a park and decided this was the best we could do. Annabeth pulled out three simple murky brown two-man tents, Zia and Nico called one and Annabeth and Percy that left just me and Phoenix to share, happy that it was someone I've known all my life. I settled into the tent quite well, I've always wanted to go camping but mom considered it a 'poor mans holiday'. I turned to look Phoenix in the face, I saw him smiling too "What's made you so happy? I thought you hated this?" I asked<br>"Oh, I do hate camping but its good to be back" he said  
>"Back what do you mean back?" confused I looked him in the eyes<br>"I was born in London remember? I moved to the big apple when I was four." he stated matter-of-factly.  
>"Oh. Oh yeah, why don't you have the accent anymore? I love the British!"<br>"I learn new accents quickly, plus the American is so much better!" he answered back.  
>Saying goodnight I rolled over and slipped off into a nightmare filled night. I've heard its common for demi-gods to see things in there sleeps but I wasn't expecting this. I was standing in a cold damp corridor, I could hear water dripping onto the floor as it reverberated down the long corridor, shuddering I took a few unstable steps forward, when I felt the agonising pain in my leg I looked down mortified to see the knife sticking out just below my knee, I bent down to examine it and saw that it was at least an inch deep. Taking a deep breath I pulled at the hilt of the knife, as it slid out my skin blood gushed out dying the stone floor a ruby red, ripping part of my shirt ofr I tied it tight around the wound. Making sure it was tight enough I stood and continued down the seemingly endless corridor. All too soon I came to a choice left or right. Choosing to go to the right I stumbled further down, I'm #<br>Sure I could hear voices, but from which direction I was unsure. Panicking I started to jog hoping to move further away, light started to flood in from the end I was facing, I moved forward and I could feel the heat kiss my skin. The light seemed unnatural when I realised it was coming from a person, no not a person an eight year old girl. It was divine I wanted to look away but it was impossible "Who's there? Show yourself!" I stepped forward but still this strange girl could still not see me, I could see the anger rising in her which she finally took out on a wall. Suddenly a chuckle came from behind me "Well, well you're feisty for a goddess aren't you?" the supposed goddess turned and shock filled her features.  
>"Y-You but how why?" she asked.<br>I shot up, a thin layer of sweat covered my body, gasping for air I pushed my way out the tent into the dazzling sunlight. A few feet away I saw Phoenix, Zia and Nico heads close talking. Zia looked up "Hello sleeping beauty! We decided to leave you sleeping. Annabeth and Percy has gone to get some supplies so we've decided to go shopping!" she said full of happiness  
>"Cool" I muttered and went back into my tent to get changed. I stepped out a few minutes later feeling much better deciding my hair was better up, we all packed up the tents and followed Phoenix back into main London. Shopping was so much fun I was happy to grab some more winterish clothes especially some nice hoodies for when out at sea. Zia and Phoenix pulled us into a store called 'Schuh' where they went straight to the converse section. Lurking in the back corner with Nico we watched in dismay as both of them brought a few pairs each. Moving to a cute boutique I grabbed some more clothes. We decided that we should probably get something to eat and then head back to the clearing to meet up with Annabeth and Percy. Coming across a nice pub called 'The Pitcher and The Piano' we ordered our meals and sat down.<br>Finishing up we all paid and started walking back towards our little camp when Phoenix pulled us all into a camping shop, we all watched as he moved straight to the tent section and grabbed a 12 men-tent, a gas burner and a few lamps. After paying he walked back to us "What?" he demanded  
>"Nothing" we all replied in unison. Coming back to our camp Phoenix and Zia went straight to setting up the new tent, once it was all done I stepped in side, it consisted of a massive dome with six bods coming of the side. The outside looked a lot like an octopus. We helped Nico hang the lamps around the tent and settled down to play a simple game of cards until Annabeth and Percy returned.<br>A few hours later, Annabeth, Percy, Phoenix and me was sitting around the a fire, the flames seemed to dance, a dance seen by many but one that still held an essence of beauty. We decided that it was best to stay in our little clearing until we had a clear idea of where we was going as we wouldn't be in London for much longer there was no need to pay for a hotel. I reached for a stick and started to shuffle the embers around within in the fire, soon it became mesmerising and relaxing all my worries where gone.  
>I heard it before I saw them, it was a loud 'SNAP' that echoed through the now deadly silent park, the others must have heard it too. Silently I notched an arrow and we all shuffled closer to where the noise came from inch by inch I could tell something was wrong. I heard a grunt behind me and whirled around, 'twang' the string of my bow filled my ears as I sent one flying at whoever my attacker was. Stunned by the fact a flying boar was right in front of me I froze in terror, far off I could hear Percy swear and Annabeth talking about Zia and Nico, oh how could I forget about them.<br>Phoenix charged, his sword held high aiming for the underbelly of the boar. Coming to my senses I notched another arrow and fired but it was knocked away by the boar wings.  
>"We need to trap it, does anyone have a rope?" Percy shouted<br>"No." me and Phoenix answered back in unison.  
>We all took turns attacking the boar but nothing seemed to affect him. Percy hoped that if we stalled it for long enough Annabeth would be able to come up with a plan on how to defeat him. Minutes seemed to pass, arrow after arrow nothing seemed to touch the boar, Phoenix had tried spells but they just bounced back off its hide that we decided was to dangerous. I heard Zia shouting through the trees, she seemed panicked, the boars head snapped to face the on coming noise and it flew off. Me and Phoenix were chasing it, then a scream escaped my lips as I saw one of its tusks drove straight into Zia. Nico lunged and both he and the boar were gone. Zia shuddered and fell<br>"STATVIA" Phoenix screamed, his voice broke at the end.  
>Zia was suspended mid air, I rushed forward, taking her weight and carried her back to Annabeth. I was in shock, so much had now happened in just a few seconds the fate of my best friend had changed. I could think straight. Annabeth and Percy came to us when they spotted us, but when they saw Zia motionless in my arms they froze in place for a few seconds the rushed to look at her.<br>"What happened?" they both asked. Nobody answered, we were biting back tears.


	7. The Plan

**Nico's POV**  
>I shadow travelled the boar to the underworld, it had hurt my sister I will get my revenge. 'This boar is going to look me in the eyes when I kill it!' 'I shall be the last think it sees!' the boar looked around and whined, I laughed "This is going to be fun." I said, grinning evilly at the animal.<p>

The boar got over the shock and change of the sudden travel, but he soon turned to me, looked me straight in the eyes and charged with all the strength he had. I side stepped, it continued and went into some spirits but he just passed straight through them. When he realised I wasn't standing where I once was, he turned in my new direction and charged again. This time I didn't bother to move my feet, I just pointed my weapon straight at the boar and then waited. He didn't realise what I'd done and continued to charge straight into it. His eyes bulged out of there sockets, they looked shocked at what had just happened, he'd just killed himself. I laughed again, but my victory was short lived.

Zia popped back into my mind. My sister was probably dying right now, and all I was doing was standing around laughing at a dead boar. I needed to get back to her, to help her any way that I could. 'There was so much I had to tell her, things she needed to be alive to hear.' With that thought everything around me faded and I appeared in the new tent, that Phoenix seemed to have brought so many years ago, when in reality it was only about 3 to 4 hours. 

**Phoenix's POV  
><strong>I couldn't control my tears anymore, I broke down by Zia's side. The only things I could think of is that 'She needs to wake up.' and 'She CAN'T die on me. Not now not after everything we've been through and all the things that the future holds.'. Percy walked into the new tent, where we had all gathered; he went over to the sleeping forms of Annabeth and Damara and covered them up with a think blanket to help keep them warm. Then he came over where he sat beside me and put his arm around my shoulders, I let my head fall to rest on his chest and continued crying and crying into him for what felt like hours, but all the while he just sat there with me making 'shushing' noises and rubbing my back soothingly. 'He is so sweet, Annabeth is so very lucky to have him.' I was jealous of her. I took a deep breath in, I wanted to inhale his scent, he smelled so perfect, it made me relax and go limp in his arms. It was a good job he was strong, my muscles had grown weak from everything that had happen, but thanks to him I was still able to sit with him there with my head on his chest.

When my crying had started to become quieter and slowed down, he said "She'll be okay, I promise." I lifted my head to look at him, and then I turn to look at Zia. She was on her death bed and he was promising me that 'She'll be okay.' Looking at her like this it made me want to start crying all over again, I could see her getting worse by the second and there was noting anyone could do about it. We had given her Ambrose and Nectar, Percy and Annabeth had said that they would help, but it hadn't done anything, noting had and at this rate nothing would.

My head snapped to look at a corner dark with shadows. I felt a presence; Nico appeared from the very bowels of the deep, unnatural shadows which seemed to cling to the very edge of Zia, like it was waiting to take her down into the underworld. He took one look at Zia and fell on his knees, he was at her side in an instant, and tears were rolling down his face uncontrollably. I turned my head to Percy and from the way he looked at him I could tell that he didn't normally cry at all, let alone in front of people. I glanced back over to the crying, crumbled up form of Nico. I wanted to go over to him and tell him that 'She will get better'. Just like Percy did with me, but then I remembered how I felt when he said it to me and decided against it, I knew it wouldn't help. The only thing that would help would be a miracle, or magic.

Nico crawled over to the corner where he had first appeared, I think it helps him being in the darkness instead of in the light, he was surrounded by the shadows which helped him deal with this, so I guess we should just leave him alone.  
>Just then it clicked. 'I have magic!', 'I could save her!' I quickly thought back to see if I could remember seeing any healing spells, from my spell book, that could help her. I had it, the perfect spell. It HAD to work, it HAD to save her.<br>I looked up at Percy, I needed to share this news that I just clued into

"I could try this spell I fount." I croaked

he looked back down at me when I spoke and stared into my eyes, when I'd finished he looked worried "If you think you can." he replied, I nodded my head

"I have to try, I cant lose her." I said.

I was on the verge of tears. He took in the situation that I had put myself in, he knew that if it didn't work I'd blame myself but if I didn't try I would always regret it because I could of tried to save her instead of being careful and sitting back waiting for her to die.

"Just be careful." he said, I could tell he was worried about me and wouldn't judged me if I couldn't do it, all he wanted was for me to be safe. In less drastic circumstances I would have smiled, but at this moment in time all my mind could think of was Zia. I rose so I was kneeling over her. Then said the words that could change everything.

"Asclepious Sana." I said the two words with everything that I had in me; I needed this spell to work. There was no way I could lose her, 'Not now, not ever'. But she just continued to lay there motionless. I moved so I was sat on the floor next to her, I grabbed her hand; it was so small and pale, it just seemed to dangle their lifelessly. Then I couldn't control the tears anymore I moved her hand to my face and started crying again. 'I've failed her!' 'I'm so useless!' I yelled at myself. This is what Percy had feared, I would destroy myself for not saving her.

Something interrupted my thoughts; I felt something twitch in my hand. I brought my other hand down and looked at it, I saw Zia's cold, pale skin that lightly covered the bones of her hand, and she had looked like a skeleton. 'I must have been hallucinating.' I scolded myself. Her fingers twitched again, my head shot up to look at my best friend Zia, her faced look a bit better than what it had only moments before, then her nose also twitched and her eyes suddenly shot open.

**Zia's POV  
><strong>I opened my eyes, I was staring the ceiling of the tent. I tried to sit up, but when I moved anything below my neck a teeth grinding pain shot through my body, originating from the muscle I had tried to use. I winced; I noticed that someone had hold of my hand. I turned my head slowly as to not cause any pain again, I saw Phoenix looking at me with pink puffy eyes, his face covered in streaks of tears.

"Hey" I said and smiled at him weakly.

A smile broke out across his face, which showed the rows of his perfectly straight white teeth.

"Hey" he said back.

I started to look around the space of the tent, out of curiosity and saw Annabeth and Damara sleeping, they was covered with a thick cosy blanket. They looked so peaceful, it was so sweet. I looked back at Phoenix and then only just noticed that Percy was sitting behind him, he looked relived and impressed.

I scanned the room again, this time I was looking for someone in particular, I was looking for my Nico, I finally spotted him in a corner, he had his head in his hands and his entire body was shaking slightly. I had to say something, anything to him. I decided to say the first thing that came into my mind.

"What's up?" I called over to him.

His whole body froze and he slowly raised his head. A smile broke out onto his face. a lot like the one Phoenix had on his a few moments ago. In a second he was at my side. I looked at his face, some tears were still present. 'He'd been crying' my heart broke, my angel had been crying. I got captivated by his eyes and the world seemed to fade to nothing around us, yet I know we hadn't shadow travelled anywhere. This was different, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it exactly was. As I was thinking he had gotten closer to me, then he quickly closed the distance. I squeezed my eyes shut 'This is wrong' my mind screamed at my heart, I couldn't help what I felt. I knew nothing good could possibly come from this but to be honest I really didn't care. It seemed like year since I had close my eyes, but then I felt what I had been waiting for, his perfectly soft lips met mine. All my thoughts had gone out of my head in that second.

Then Someone had cleared their throat, we both reluctantly pulled away and looked to the source of the sound, it was Annabeth, 'I guess they had just woken up' my mind told me, then it went back to what had happened just a few seconds ago, 'I can't believe that just happened, am I dreaming?' my heart mused, 'What's going to happen to us now?' my mind asked. I looked at the faces of my friends, the same question my mind had asked was written all over their faces. We all sat in awkward silence for a while, all going over what had just happened. Percy was the one to break it

"Well…" he trailed off,

"I think its time everyone got some sleep now." Annabeth said,

"I'll stay on guard." she stated.

"I'll stay on guard with you." Damara volunteered,

she was just trying to be kind and helpful like always.

"Thank you." Annabeth said to her. 

Percy, Phoenix, me and Nico huddled together under a few blankets. It was getting cold outside and we could all feel it. I tried to sleep, I really did, but my mind kept replaying the string of events from earlier. A million unanswered questions were racing around my head. I turned my head to the left, Phoenix was breathing heavily, he had Percy's arm slung over his torso. The image was so cute, I sighed. Then I turned my head to the right, my breath caught in my throat, Nico was sleeping and he looked like a fallen angel, he was so perfect in everyway possible. My heart beat had increased just by simply looking at him. I decided to try and move his arm so that I could cuddle up to him even more, 'That would help me sleep' I reasoned with myself. The moment I let my head fall onto his chest his arm, the one I had moved fell and enclosed me into I a loving embrace, I couldn't move. Not that I minded. I finally closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

**Annabeth's POV**

****I glanced at the sleeping form of my boyfriend, Percy; he had his arm slung over Phoenix. Jealousy and anger shot through my veins, I wanted to go over there and move his arm, but Percy wouldn't stray, I knew that I was being silly and that I could trust him. Also Phoenix had been through a lot lately he could do with someone being there for him and being supportive. I sighed, I knew I had over reacted; it was all Aphrodite's fault. I turned away from the sleeping forms of my friends and boyfriend and faced Damara. She had volunteered to stay up with me and help keep guard, not that it was needed but just in case.

"You okay?" I asked,

Her face was full of worry, I knew something was on her mind and I had an idea of what it was. She looked at me

"Not really. I'm worried about what will happen to Zia and Nico now. Its forbidden to have a relationship with someone from the same cabin." she replied, she continued "But then Zia doesn't normally like people, I just really don't want her to get hurt. I want her to be happy. But I feel if something bad happened now, I feel like she won't recover for a VERY long time if ever."

"You're conflicted." I stated "You want to be happy for her that's she's fount someone, but you want it to be someone who she can be with forever and not have to get punished for it." I continued. She nodded,

"I guess we'll just have to hope for the best." she mumbled.

I nodded my head in agreement. I knew this was going to cost them, but right now we had to find a way to some how make it through this quest and succeed. Who knows it could help them, with the gods.

We decided to wake everyone up at about 6AM. Once everyone had gotten up we packed up our things and headed into the main city part, so that we could find somewhere to have breakfast and talk about our next move. Zia spotted a Starbucks and ran to it

"I guess we've fount where we're having breakfast." I laughed,

The rest of us quickened our pace but stayed in the group. We all walked into the store and brought an espresso, a latte, a white chocolate mocha, a chai tea and two classic hot chocolates to drink then 4 packs of buttermilk pancakes and 2 blueberry muffins. After we had paid and been severed, we found a table and sat down to eat and plan what we was going to do.

"Right, so first we need to go to the British museum, and then make our way to Greece." I told everyone.

"Which island do we start at?" Damara asked.

"We need to go to Athens first." Percy said

"I agree, there is something in the new Acropolis museum that we need, but it is only half of a clue. It should hopefully lead us to the other half. Then if we combined both halves, it should her us on our quest." I said

"We need all the help we can get." Nico sighed.

We all nodded in agreement. The truth was we had to go to find a goddess in one of the Greek islands, we don't know which one yet. Then we have to free her, but we have to avoid traps and we don't know how or what has captured her. Finally we had to all make it back alive. But we all knew that if we did it wouldn't end there, because after Zia had to face the gods about her existence, now they also had to decide what they was going to do with both Nico and Zia. We all know how unpredictable the gods can be, but no matter what all of us will stand together till the end. That's what friends do, whether they are old or new friends it doesn't matter. We are family.

"So we go to the British museum, then to Athens, then to where ever the clue leads us, then finally back to Greece with Both halves of a clue. But we don't even know what this 'clue' is. Right?" Phoenix asked.

"Right" Annabeth agreed.

We finished our drinks and ate our food in silence. Then we got up and left.

**Zia's POV (Again)  
><strong>I still didn't feel too well, but I acted like I was fine. I didn't want to be the weak link of the group. We finally made it to the British museum, when we entered my first thought was 'This is boring!'. I looked over at Nico who hadn't left my side ever since I'd woken up, not that I was complaining I loved having him there next to me, he looked at me and he looked bored to. We both knew we had to be here to get what Annabeth needed, but that fact didn't make it anymore interesting or any less boring. Annabeth looked at the map and started directing us to where we needed to be. 'This place is HUGE'. We finally reached our destination. We all stood at a lot of Greek artefacts, there were statues and goblets and hundreds of trinkets. But Annabeth took us straight to a case thingy, the label said '_Hestia's Tablet.'_ this is what we needed. I didn't understand. Annabeth took lots of notes and hundreds of pictures of the mirror case. I guess it was very important to our quest; we all just had to trust that she knew what she was doing. After about half an hour of us just standing around just this one artefact and leaving Annabeth to her work

"Done" she finally said,

It was the best thing that she had said all day. We finally got to leave this place. We all turned around and let her lead the way out of this giant museum, but it was really like a maze.

We finally reached the outside, I had never been so happy to be outside of a building. We headed back to the park so that we could get back to the boat, which was still safety tucked into my bag. It took forever to get back to the park, my feet felt like they would fall off if I walked anymore. I glanced around; nobody else looked like it was taking a toile on them. I looked behind me and saw the museum was only a few blocks away. I didn't feel too good now; actually I felt worse, a lot worse. "Nico?" I said, he looked at me

"What's up beautiful?" he asked.

I stumbled, I would of fell if it wasn't for is strong arms wrapped around me keeping me upright. Everyone turned around to see if I was alright, Nico picked me up and carried me all the way. Well until we fount somewhere safe, so we could shadow travel back to th3 docks and get on the boat.  
>We made it back to the boat just after everyone else, it seemed as though that Phoenix had returned it to its normal size. He laid me down on a bed and went to fetch a glass of water, he returned only seconds later. He set the glass down on the floor next to me and wiped the hair that ad fallen over my face to the side.<p>

"You should get some rest, baby. I think it was too much, to soon today." he said to me.

I sighed "Okay" just as I said the word Damara an Phoenix burst through the door. They glanced over to me

"How are you feeling?" Phoenix asked.

I smiled "I've been better." Nico, Damara and Phoenix sniggered, then all smiled at me.

"I've just told her to get some rest." Nico told them,

"Okay" they both said in unison.

"We'll leave you to rest then." Damara said.

Phoenix, Damara and Nico all left the room.

I started to drift off, but then a black smoke appeared on the floor in-between the glass of water Nico had got me and the bed. The smoke started to clear, once it was all gone there was an envelop left behind. I reached down and picked it up. '_Zia'_was written on it. I opened it up slowly and pulled out a little piece of card with a few words on and a bronze ring attached to it, the writing said

'_Wear this ring and you will be safe and well, my princess.'__._

I detached the ring, it was two bronze skeletons bent into a ring, I put it on. Instantly I felt better, but I still felt drained of all my energy. I decided that I should now get some sleep, but as I drifted off into the land of dreams I said a silent prayer 'Thank you dad. One day I will make you proud.' I was so glad he didn't hate me for what had happened with Nico.

I had a dreamless sleep, but woke up to the sound of Phoenix telling me to 'wake up'. I slowly opened my eyes,

"We've arrived." he told me,

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm good. Thank you for everything. I owe you everything." I said, he blushed "If it wasn't for you I would be dead. Thank you." I continued.

"It was nothing." he replied.

I sat up and gave him the biggest hug in the history of hugs. Then pulled away "Let's go." I smiled. He smiled back and helped me up, then we both left the room together.


	8. To Greece!

Phoenix POV

Greece was beautiful. The sun blazed down against our faces and added a cheerful mood to the group. We had set anchor a few miles away from the shore and were waiting for Nico, Percy and Annabeth to wake up. My legs dangled precariously off the end of the boat, the warm water lapped at my toes and almost tickled them. Zia and Damara were in the sea splashing around, Zia was much better now after that mysterious ring had showed up but she refused to tell anyone who it was off which seemed to annoy Annabeth greatly. Slipping into the water I swam stealthily towards Damara, bobbing my head over the top, I motioned to Zia to be quite and I swam the short distance between me and Damara where I splashed her. A roar of laughter escaped Zia's throat she generally seemed happy compared to the now moody Damara.

"Cheer up 'Mara its only fun I games." I chuckled at her, she turned her face was full of anger and she seemed pissed off,

"It's not funny" she snapped back and then she turned around and went back to the boat.

I drifted lazily around the boat with Zia; we just lay there not speaking just contempt that everything was great how it was. I entwined my fingers with her's and she slowly pulled herself closer to me. That was the great thing about me and Zia we didn't need to speak to be happy just only be in each others company was okay with us.

Nico stumbled above deck; his black hair was sticking up in all directions

"Looks like he had I good night sleep ey?" I said to Zia while motioning towards Nico.

"Mm" was all I got in the form of a reply.

We decided we should probably get back to the boat and get dressed as know doubt as soon as Annabeth is awake she'll make us go straight to land. Nico offered me his hand as we got closer; as he helped pull me up on deck I thanked him and quickly walked of to my cabin.

Throwing the wardrobe doors open I stood there in dismay with no idea on what I was going to wear today. I searched threw each and every piece of clothing I had about three times before I found something I was reasonably happy with, some denim shorts and a grey and white stripped top.

I joined the others in the living quarters and grabbed a plate of pancakes that someone had made, throwing myself down on a sofa I heard Annabeth rattle on

"Look, I know this place is wonderful but we're here to find Hestia not go on holiday. We just need to find the museum and get out of here ASAP, hopefully whatever it is will help" she scolded us,

"Wait" Damara piped up "you don't even know what were looking for? Just any old object?"

"Well, it must have something to do with the mirror case we found in the British museum" Annabeth replied.

Percy wrapped up the meeting and guided the boat to shore, where we all stepped off the boat and onto land

"Percy, do you think you could make a rainbow with the sea water? We still don't know how to turn the boat back to a charm remember?" Zia asked

"Errm sure" he replied.

A spray of water flew above our heads and as the iridescent light danced across the beach I couldn't help but to stare in awe. Nico pulled out a drachma and threw it into the water

"Chiron, camp half-blood please" he spoke in a clear crisp voice. 

The water shimmered and a picture of the bearded centaur appeared in its place

"Ah, Chiron we won't bother you for long we just don't know how to turn the boat back into a charm. We've tried everything." Zia said.

"Oh, did I not tell you? Well it's quite simple really you just ask it too. I must go now dear there seems to be a fight brewing between the Hermes cabin and the Ares campers, no doubt it has something to do with the Stoll brothers again" he replied.

As easy as Chiron came he was gone again.

"Errm boat? Would you be kind enough too turn into a charm please" Zia cheeks flooded red, you could tell she was embarrassed by doing such a thing.

Nothing seemed to happen until the boat started to glow a blue which grew brighter and brighter until it consumed everything in its way and whitewashed my entire vision, covering my face with my hands I waited until the light had died down and I could see again.

Slowly lowering my hand I could see the boat had vanished and that Zia was checking her necklace where there was a bright blue boat hanging.

We started walking threw the streets just walking without any direction, none of us seemed in a rush as we didn't want to face whatever was ahead. We knew that once we had this next 'clue' we knew we would be moving against the enemy and that certainly meant danger for us.

Annabeth stopped a few locals for directions but we couldn't seem to get passed the language barrier. We were all stumped until we tried to see if they knew any other languages

"Guten tag, ich heiβ Phoenix, sprechen sie deutsch?" I asked in my lame high school German

"Ja" one replied, Annabeth and Percy cheered

"Weiβt du, wo das Museum ist?"

"Ja, das ist drei Meile Gerade von hier" she answered while pointing the to the road up ahead

"Denke, auf weidersehen." I said and started walking in the direction they pointed at, turning to Annabeth "They said it's just two miles from here, this way." I informed her.

The group walked in silence none of us wanted to break it, I saw Zia constantly fiddling with her ring, and it was quite pretty and matched her perfectly with her Dad

and all.

As we climbed the steps to the museum we pushed the heavy doors open and thanked the gods for the air conditioning, after being in London it seemed that the heat effected us much more then usual. Annabeth started browsing all the sections, looking for any artefacts linked to Hestia or Pan and Aphrodite again. We all just seemed to follow her hoping she knew what she was looking for and that she would find it. As Annabeth came to a glass cabinet filled with broken tablets of stone she gasped and pointed to the oldest looking one

"That's it!" she said in amazement

"Are you sure?" Nico asked

"Absolutely positive, look at it. You can just tell" she said with a voice full of determination.

"There's a problem though, I can't decipher the information here. We're going to have to take it with us" she spoke so low that only we could hear her.

"What?" Percy hissed back.

"We need it Percy, Follow me" and with that she walked of into the direction of the toilets, Percy turned to look at us, I just shrugged and walked after her. We cramped ourselves in a baby changing cubicle and placed a fake 'Broken' sign out side and blocked the bottom so nobody could see our feet. We had an hour to kill before the museum closed and more for the guards to do their security check, where my big role of the night would come, to disguise six nervous teenagers. I flipped threw my spell book looking for any spell about concealment. I found one, but it seemed much to difficult to hide all of us so we decided to split into three, Zia, Nico and Damara as one team who will hide in the shadows and me, Annabeth and Percy which I will conceal.

As eight o'clock came it was time to put my spell into practice, it was decided my team would hide first so the rest can check if it worked

"abscondere nobis a populus sententia" a slow mist started to ooze from my finger tips, as it pooled around my feet I pulled the other two closer so they were covered too, as it started to climb my body I sudden burst of itchiness came over me, I composed myself and vowed to never use this spell again.

"Perfect" Damara mumbled

"Can you not see us at all? All we see is a mist" Percy asked

"Nope" Zia answered while putting emphasises on the p.

With that the shadows rose from the ground and wrapped itself around each of their tiny figures. The mist constructed my view quite a bit and I still can't believe people couldn't see the mist, it seemed perfectly obvious to us, until I realised it was the mist, as in the which makes humans see things in a way they could believe, I was using to cover us, shocked at the sudden revelation as only strong demigods could do such a feet. I stood in boredom waiting for the guys to check our hiding place and then we can begin.

Ten minutes passed until I could hear the scuffle of boots against the cold stone floor. A beam of light from a torch shone straight at us, but the security guards eyes just glazed over as he looked in our direction, turning around he took his leave and I undid the spell where the mist just dissipated almost immediately.

Annabeth shuffled forward and poked her head around the corner and motioned that the cost was clear, we all moved after her, my staff at the ready and spells were already beginning to from in my mind just in case. We reached the glass case in no time where Percy used riptide to cut a circle above the tablet so Annabeth could pull it out, as Percy finished the circle I quickly whispered "dispero" where the glass circle disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Annabeth reached her hand in and slowly pulled the tablet out and placed it into her backpack.

We all let out a sigh of relief as we believed it was over, oh how foolish we were. As we went to turn the corner to reach the closet fir exit a raspy voice came from behind us

"I'll take that, demigods"

We turned to face a man, clad in all bronze armour, before thinking Percy lunged and aimed his sword at the head of the unknown guy, but he just side stepped and Percy flew into a wall. Annabeth rushed to his side leaving me, Damara, Zia and Nico to face him, or so I thought. Nico and Zia were nowhere to be seen and Damara was sprawled across the floor unconscious

"Who are you?" I spitted at the guy

"No one to concern yourself with young demigod; however I do believe that you're a child of Hecate? Yes a strong one at that to avoid such a spell, oh well I must do it the old fashion way then" he mused to himself

I gulped back a scream and started firing spell after spell at the guy but he just seemed to deflect them all, I was becoming mentally tired and I knew he could tell. I staggered into the corner where Damara's body was, touching her with my foot "ad salutum" with which her body was pulled from the area. I stood defiant, if I wasn't going to win this at least there was somebody out there to still help Hestia.

I faced the guy again; he seemed displeased with my choice

"No matter, we'll always find her" he chuckled

"Not if I can do something about it" and I screamed " DISPERSO" a look of horror came across his face as smoke started billowing from his skin and he slowly disappeared. Taking a deep breath I turned to face Annabeth and Percy who was also knocked out, suddenly a battle cry filled the hall and Zia and Nico charged from the deepest corner. They stopped a look of shock crossed both their faces

"Where has he gone?" Nico demanded

"Somewhere" I replied smugly.

I filled Nico and Zia in on what had happened and Nico agreed to fetch Damara by shadow travel and that Zia and I would take Percy and Annabeth back to shore and safety. Hoisting Percy up I felt the familiar rush that came with teleporting and then the rough sand blowing against my legs, moments later Zia emerged from the shadows supporting a barely conscious Annabeth, taking her off Zia I laid her down on the sand next to Percy so Zia could set up the boat.

Passing Annabeth back to Zia who was now on the deck I watched Nico appear with a fully conscious Damara.

We all climbed aboard and set sail once again into the unknown.


	9. An

**A/N: Sorry all there'll be no chapter tonight, we're seeing the hunger games . Hehe. Anyhow I'm sorry but don't worry there'll be one up tomorrow British times**

**Love, ScarleyandDaniel**


	10. Onwards to Rome!

**Hey guy's sorry we've been missing for so long but my laptop broke and Scarlett, bless her doesn't know how to upload the chapters**

**anyway on with the story anf i hope you enjoy it :D #**

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><p><strong>Damara's<strong>** POV**

We were all sat on the boat we didn't have any idea of where we were going. We all hoped that Annabeth could find out from the mirror case, but how a case which used to hold a mirror thousands of years ago was beyond any of us really. She was sat on the deck surrounded by notes she had made some how from the it, but still after an hour of work she still didn't know where we were going. We were all quite tired but no one wanted to sleep until we knew where we were heading. The thought of not knowing unsettled all of our stomachs, so much that we felt sick with nerves.

"I have it!" Annabeth suddenly squealed with delight, we all jumped out of our skins at the out burst, but quickly got over the sudden shock.

"You know where we have to go now?" Percy asked.

"Yes, isn't that what I just said." Annabeth said sarcastically and rolled her eyes, but she continued "We have to go to Rome. Since we only have half of the 'clue' we need the other half and that is said to be, according to this," she motioned to the mirror case In the Centre of the National museum." Annabeth told us all.

"Another museum? Are you not worried about breaking in again?" Nico asked, Annabeth nodded her head silently. Percy stood up

"We'll be there in a few hours then. All of you should now get some sleep, we're all tired and we're all going to need our strength if we are going to all survive and complete this quest." he kissed Annabeth's cheek and when down the stairs to get some sleep, after he set our course. We all stood and followed suit, we all found somewhere to sleep and the second I closed my eye I fell instantly to peaceful sleep for a few hours.

I woke up before everyone else, I just laid there for a few minutes, but then I couldn't take just lying down any longer, so I decided to get up and go onto the deck to get some much needed air. We were heading to Rome, I've never been there before, my mom had band me from ever going there, after a holiday she had once, but now that is exactly where we are heading, at a frightening speed this boat should not be able to travel at. I walked into the kitchen and looked around the small space, 'What am I doing here?' I asked myself. I went over to the cupboards to find some food for breakfast, I found some flour, coffee, cereal, blue food coloring, biscuits and sugar I took everything out then walked over to the fridge, I took out some butter, a few eggs, and a carton of milk. I laid everything out on the worktop and decided that I would make breakfast for everyone, since we all needed to keep up our strength. Everyone woke up about half an hour later; I had just finished preparing and presenting everyone's meal when they all filled into the small kitchen, smelling the food. I set out everyone's food and drink, Percy had blue pancakes and a glass of water, to make the pancakes blue I just added a few drops of food coloring to the mix. Annabeth had a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea. Nico had some normal pancakes and a black coffee, Zia had the same. Phoenix had a cup of tea and some biscuits; I decided that I would have the same as Phoenix. We all grabbed our breakfast then went upon to the deck to eat. It was such a beautiful day we all sat in a circle and ate everything that was on our plates. After we finished they all said 'thank you' then walked back down into the kitchen and put their dirty pots into the sink, then went to get ready for the day ahead.

On the deck you could see the ocean stretching out behind us and in front you could faintly make out the shapes of a city. 'I guess that's our destination' I thought. As we quickly approached the city become clearer, and you could finally tell the buildings and streets apart. When everyone came onto the deck after they had all showered and changed, they all stared at the city that was vastly approaching. You could tell that none of us had been here before, that much was clear, this was uncharted territory.

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><p><strong>Zia's POV:<strong>

Soon after coming onto the deck we arrived at our destination, and I realized that we had reached the ancient city of Rome. This place was amazing. I had never seen anything like it before, I fell in love with how it looked, smelled and felt, I loved everything about Rome, and I wondered why I hadn't been here before.

We docked and got off of the boat, we all gathered on the dock space next to our boat and Annabeth told us the plan of what we was going to do "Right the case says we should find the other part of the 'clue' at the National Roman Museum, but again we don't know what it is how to put the items together that will supposedly help us. So when we get there I suggest that we all split up we'll be going in two to find this other half." we all nodded in understanding of the new plan. "Okay, so Nico you're going with Zia." we looked at each other and blushed, I realised that we had to find someway to focus on find the half instead of each other. "Percy you're with Phoenix and Damara you're with Me." we all nodded again, and started walking to the National Roman Museum. 'This is going to be interesting' my mind sarcastically commented. After a few minutes of walking we realised that we were lost, so Annabeth had to ask for directions, they didn't really help it took us a few hours of waling until we fount it. It really was huge; there were giant columns and pale stone. It looked so beautiful as if it was just built yesterday, but the style belonged thousands of years ago, this whole city belonged to the past, yet here it stood strong and proud making all the other buildings around it looks dull and pointless. This place had gone against all the elements and gone through all the wars, it had made it though still intact.

Again when we got there we all headed to the Greek and Roman section of the museum, once we reached it Annabeth turned around to face us all "Right, Percy and Phoenix take the right, Nico and Zia take the left, me and Damara will the Centre." we all nodded at her orders and split up into our pairs. This place reminded me of the museum in Greece, BORING! I looked to Nico and he looked back, he read the look on my face "I know, but we need to find this other part of the clue." he told me, I groaned "At least we got paired together." he added, I considered that for a few seconds, I guess he was right, I did get to spend more time with him and I guess I was kind of grateful for that. I decided that the soon we fond this clue the sooner we could leave so I started to look around. We walked around hand in hand; I got distracted by his presents so I wasn't paying much attention to the artifacts that we were walking past. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a glint of something; I turned my head to look at the artifact that had caught my eye. It was a simple chain; it looked to be thousands of years old. I was rooted in my place; it was like I was in a hypnotic state cause by a simple, yet very beautiful, chain. Nico had stopped by my side and followed my gaze to the artifact. "You fount it" he grinned at e then kissed my forehead. I grinned back "Now what do we do?" I asked 2i'm not sure, we didn't make a plan to meet up." he answered "I'll go find the others, just stay ere." he added, I nodded "Don't be to long" I sighed, "I won't be, I promise. Try not to miss me too much, because I know I'll miss you." he whispered in my ear which sent chills down my spine. "I'll miss you too" I whispered back. He lean down and quickly kissed me before he left to find the others.

As I waited for the others to come I studied the chain, I could see every link that was holding it together, and it looked so fragile and really beautiful. I could sense shadows forming around me, I turned to look "That was quick!" I thought everyone had got here already, but instead of seeing my friends I saw an old looking woman with a scarf wrapped around her head and tinted glasses covering her eyes. She took a few stapes towards me I moved to the side and muttered "Sorry", I thought she must have wanted to look at the artifacts and I was blocking her way. I guess I was wrong, because as soon as she came closer I could hear a '_hissing_' sound, but the weird thing was it was coming from her head. The scarf fell to the floor and the _'hissing' _sound got louder, I kept my eyes on the floor, I knew that the second I looked at her I was dead. I heard Annabeth's voice, just as the demon was about to talk. "Medusa" Annabeth yelled, I guessed she was trying to get her attention. "Not again" Percy moaned. Just the sound of his voice made the snakes hiss louder, 'They must have had a run in before' I concluded. I heard the sound of _'Riptide' _being drawn, then heard it slice through some skin, I notice that he _'hissing' _had finally stopped and I risked pealing my now closed eyes up from the floor. All that was left of the little old lady Medusa was a pile of dust and her head.

Everyone in the exhibit had gathered around us, fear was replacing the shocked and curious looks on their faces, I'm not sure what they sure but I knew one thing it wasn't good. An alarm sounded through out the museum, Annabeth looked at the chain then looked around her, she fount a fire hose. She went over to it grabbed it and smashed the glass, then took the chain and ran for the exit. We all followed suite and together we all ran out of the museum. It was lucky we didn't get caught, but the commotion of everyone running around in fear and the alarm going off provided the perfect cover for us to steal it without having to wait until closing time again. We ran out as quickly as we could, we were disturbing the peace on the streets of Rome and attracting a lot of attention, so we slowed down and walked through the crowed streets. Annabeth was leading the way with Percy at her side, Phoenix and Damara closely following them. At the back a few steps behind everyone was me and Nico we walked slowly hand in hand.

"Nico?" a girl stopped him and he instantly let go of my hand.

"Clara" Nico said, he smiled at her and gave her a huge hug. Clara had golden blonde hair it was in little perfect curls that went down to her tiny waist, she had stunning crystal blue eyes and she look perfect just like a model in her slim fitting crisp white sundress. They finally let go of each other after a few, what felt like, minutes. Nico turned to face me "Zia this is Clara." he told me, then he turned to face Clara and said "Clara this is Zia, she is my sister." she forced a smile onto her perfectly beautiful lips and said

"It's nice to meet you Zia." all of our friends had stopped and looked around at use just standing there in the middle of the crowded street. "Nico, could I speak to you in private? Please." Clara asked my Nico. He blushed, nodded as an answer to her, then turned to our friends, avoiding me completely, and he said

"Guys I'll meet you all back at the boat, we have some catching up to do. Okay?" they all nodded in unison, then he finally turned to me he said "Sweetie, I'll see you soon." he hugged me half heartedly and whispered "I love you" in my ear.

"I love you too" I quickly whispered back, he let go of me and turned then left with Clara, I watched him go weaving through the crowded streets after a few seconds I lost sight of him and my body slumped, I didn't feel like walking or moving or even breathing anymore but we had to get back to the boat, 'he would be fine and come back in a few hours, then when I told him about how I felt he would say the same cause we love each other.' I kept telling my self this as I walked back to the boat in between Phoenix and Damara, they was talking non-stop all the way there so I don't think they really care if I was silent. I was glad I got time to be left with my thoughts; I had millions of questions about what had just happened 'How did they know each other?' 'What we're they talking about?' 'Why did he instantly let go of my hand when he saw her?' 'Why did he only introduce me as his sister?' 'I know that's what I am but I thought I was more than that.' I shook my head to try and clear these stupid questions out of my mind. I finally came back to reality and noticed were I was we had reached the boat.

I decided that I would use this free time that we had from waiting for Nico to catch up with my friends cause I hadn't really spoke to them for awhile. I looked at the time on my phone; it said that it was '15:42', Nico had left about twelve that means he's already been gone three hours and forty two minutes 'how long does it take to catch up with someone?' I thought 'Defiantly not this long!' I decided to ask Annabeth about it, before going to my friends, I went and asked her "Shouldn't Nico be back by now?" "Yes, he should. I'm starting to get a little worried about him." she replied, she did look legitimately worried about him. I had a sudden thought, maybe I could shadow travel to him. "I'm going to go make sure he is okay." I told Annabeth she nodded quickly, then I felt the world melt around me and the shadows engulf everything as I shadowed travelled to my baby Nico. The world quickly reformed around me and the shadows quickly dispersed, I noticed that I had ended up in a cold, damp alley. I looked around for Nico. I fount him, but the second I did I wish that I hadn't. I gasped, he was standing against the wall naked, which wasn't that bad, but so was Clara she was pushing him into the wall like it was made out of sponge. They hadn't noticed me, they were far too busy, well that was until I gasped, and then they both ha turned to looked where the sound had come from and their eyes were now still fixed on me. I could feel the tears that were forming in my eyes. I left that place as quickly as I could, I heard Nico's voice but no words reached me it was too late.

I was on the deck of the boat again, I ran in the direction I knew the rooms were as fast as I could, everyone looked at me as I passed them but I really didn't care. All I wanted was to be left alone, and considering nobody followed me into the room I was grateful that they had decided to give me what I wanted and ad left me alone and make sure I had my space for awhile. I cried my eyes and heart out for what felt like hours, the boat was now moving under me but right now I really couldn't care less. There was a knock at the door, I slightly raised my head tears still falling from my eyes own my checks then hitting the floor where a puddle was starting to form, and Phoenix and Damara opened it slowly then stepped in and quickly closed the door behind them. They came over to me and sat down at either side of me then both hugged me at the same time as tight as they could. The hug spoke to me in a way; it said 'We're here for you'. I heard voices on the other side of the door; we all held our breaths and looked towards it.

Nico came bursting in through the door; he was closely followed by Percy who was shouting at him on one side and Annabeth screaming at in on the other. I think that everyone had guessed what had happened, I'm glad I have such great friends. "SHUT UP!" he yelled at them. His voice shocked everyone into uncomfortable silence "Now, everyone get out of this room, so that I can talk to Zia, alone." his voice had lowered and calmed but you could tell that it was taking a lot to control it, I stared at him with a blank expression on my face there was no way I was talking to him about this not now, not today. I held onto my friends tighter, so that they knew that I didn't want them to leave me alone with him. Damara stood up "We're not leaving her alone with you." she spat out at him. "GET OUT!" his voice boomed though out the boat, I knew that he had lost all control and patients now. "Guys come on, lets give them five minutes." Percy suggested, he was just trying to make peace and I knew that if I need any of them that they'd be waiting outside the door. I didn't want my friends to get hurt, and right now I'm not sure how far Nico would go or what he would do, so I let go of my friends. They felt my grip leave them and looked at me, I nodded at the door, they took the hint then everyone slowly walked out of the room.

I lowered my head back down to my knees. Nico sighed, then slowly walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I quickly shrugged it off, the raised my head slowly to look at him. He look genially hurt, but I would not surrender to him, not after what had now happened especially since it had now been permanently etched into my brain. "I'm so sorry baby" his voice cracked and tears started to fall own his face "I don't know what came over me. You're my baby and I love you with all my heart. Not her, never her. I'm so sorry baby." he wiped the falling tears from his and let the ones on his face start to dry. I looked at him "I'm not your baby anymore." I simply said to him and then rose and left the room.

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><p><strong>Nico's POV:<strong>

I sat there on the floor of the cabin, after Zia left, with new tears streaming down my face. The events of the day were settling in, I had tried to explain myself but it hadn't gone the way that I had hoped, and now I've lost the one person in the entire world that I love and care about. 'What am I going to do without her?' 'I can't be without her!' 'Life without her is like a flower without the sun. Or the night sky without the stars.' 'You can't have one without the other, so I can't be without her!'

'I had to make this right, but how?' I had no idea; all I knew was that I had to, at all costs. 'I will get her back!' I took a deep breath, wiped my eyes and face, pulled myself together, then rose from my spot on the floor next to the wall and slowly walked to the door. I reached out my hand, place it on the door handle, took another deep breath, held it, then turned the handle and left the room. I was ready for whatever was waiting for me, or at least I hoped that I was, who knows how much I could actually take, I stepped out of the room, turned back to the door and carefully pulled it shut behind me released the handle, then turned to face my fate or I guess you could call them my friends.


	11. Zia's problem

**The Missing Hearth Chapter 10**

**Hey guys! I know it's been a while since we've posted but we've post just had our exam periods and we decided that studying was more important than writing FF.**

**First of all I would like to thanks thechosenoneschosenone so, so much! She helped write this chapter and help plan where this story is going, so we like owe her our lives! **

**Now a very important note, if you've read this before we've gone over and edited what the actual artefacts the group finds because it didn't make sense at all.**

**Now on with the story!**

Phoenix's POV

As Nico emerged from the room there was a long awkward silence between me, Percy and Nico, as Annabeth and Damara had gone to comfort Zia, it felt like hours before Percy finally spoke "Why Nico? I thought you were better than this" I nodded in agreement, "I don't know why, I just lost control, okay? I hadn't seen her in a while and it just happened, I didn't mean any of it, I feel terrible and I will do anything to get Zia back, and for her to forgive me, please help me" said Nico his voice braking as if he was about to cry. "You don't deserve help, you hurt my best friend and deserve the consequences" I said in a determined voice as I boldly walked up to Nico and slapped him across the face leaving a red mark for evidence, I then turned and left to go comfort Zia along with Damara and Annabeth.

Percy's POV

"So I suppose you want my help and support?" I said threateningly, "Percy I know I don't deserve your help, or anyone else's for that matter, I've been unfaithful, after I got back here I immediately regretted what I did, I still do regret what I did, I don't expect this to be easy, I don't expect Zia to accept me back at all, but I have to try, I love her Percy, please please help me" Nico said, his eyes were now watering with unshed tears as I was standing there stiffly, after a few moments of thought I replied " Nico, you should have controlled yourself, you should have starting regretting it as soon as it stopped, not when you got back, that was too late, I'm not going to help you simply because you weren't loyal to Zia after you kissed her! You do not deserve help. I'm going to go now and leave you to your thoughts, don't be so selfish to ask for help again. Bye"

"But Percy….PERCY!" Nico shouted after me "Oh I've really done it this time, what am I going to do?" Nico mumbled as he sat down on the floor, head in his hands.

Damara's POV

I sat down silently on the chest of draws, an uncomfortable silence filled the air, as nobody knew what to say to Zia, her body still rocked from her incisive crying. Phoenix was sat on the edge of the bed silently rubbing her back, trying to soothe her.

"It's alright sweetie, He's a dick anyway!" Phoenix stated

"No he's not! He's sweet and so nice to me!" Zia argued back, her voice breaking

"If cheating is being sweet, then go for it" I said sarcastically

"Leave her alone, she's traumatised can you not see that?" Annabeth chimed in.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Zia screamed, another wave of tear came flooding down her face.

The door creaked openly slightly and Percy popped his head through

"Is it alright to come in?" he asked, I shook my head for an answer and he awkwardly stood in the centre of the room rubbing his arm, "I just wanted to tell you, that I think whatever Nico did was completely wrong! He missed treated you and he has no reason to do that what so ever! I mean how much of a dick can you be?"

"See!" Phoenix screamed in triumph "Somebody agrees with me"

"Will you all just leave me alone" Zia sopped into her pillow.

We all stood up awkwardly and left the room, Annabeth and Percy heading in the direction of their cabins and Phoenix left for the kitchen, I just walked out the room and stood there silently contemplating what do now. My best friend was in pieces because some idiot messed about with her heart and I had no idea how to help. I sighed loudly and decided the best thing to do would be to just leave her to have some time to calm down and give her some space. I headed to kitchen realising immediately how hungry I was. I picked out some bread, butter and some cheese to make a simple cheese sandwich, I turned around and saw Phoenix sitting across from me at the table. "What are we going to do?" Phoenix mumbled, "I don't know, she's way too upset to realise how much of a dick he is and see rationally about this whole thing, she still sees him as what he was before this ordeal" I replied solemnly, "I think we should leave her for now, but later take her some food and drink and perhaps try to take her mind off of that dick and back on to the quest, after all we do need to save Hestia" Phoenix replied thoughtfully, I nodded in agreement.

We decided to leave the boat for a while and go see Rome while we can, it was beautiful! The cobbled streets threw you back to another time, and the people were so interesting.

"Do you think I should buy some of those?" Phoenix said while pointing to a man walking round with tight, bright green shorts

"It's not your style" I chuckled back. We walked around for another half hour until we came across the colosseum, it was just perfect, the large arches were covered in so much detail my eye's couldn't take it all in, I turned to Phoenix with a pout on my lips "Can we please go inside, please, please, please!"

"It's closed Damara, there's nothing I can do, plus we need to get back for Zia" he replied quite sternly

"We could just teleport in and have a quick peak and then we can go back straight to the boat, I promise!"

"Fine" he sighed, "Grab my hand". In a whoosh we were standing in the centre of the magnificent structure

"Just look at it Phee, it's so beautiful, and look how well it's survived over all this time!"

"Come on Damara, we really do need to get back, it's getting dark and Annabeth didn't want to stay another night here, she said we were really pushing our luck what with three children from the big three" he held his hand out and I reluctantly took it, taking one more sweep over the colosseum, knowing I will never get see it ever again.

Once our feet touched the floor, I instantly ran to the end of the boat and threw up over the side, taking the napkin that Phoenix offered me I wiped the side of my mouth

"Gods, I don't think I will ever get over how that feels" I wailed out

"It's alright it just takes time, even I still feel queasy after I teleported over such a long distance" he said trying to soothe me.

"I think we should go check on Zia" I mumbled while forcing myself to stand up straight.

As we silently pushed her door open I pushed my head through the small gap and saw Zia sitting out the porthole

"Zia!" I screamed

"Don't worry Damara, I'm just enjoying the nights air, not suicidal, promise" She chuckled back

"Oh god I was so worried about you Zia, I thought I was about to witness you die" I said between tears, I grabbed her waist and help her climb back through the port hole

"Don't cry Hun!" she said while wiping my tears that had fallen down my face

"Oh, I'm being so silly"

"It's alright, I understand" her arms snaked around me and pulled me into an embrace

"How are you feeling?" I asked timidly

"Better, I've realised I can't spend half my life sobbing over some silly boy. What happened happened and I can't change anything so no need to cry over it" She said rather boldly.

I smiled into the hug and pulled her closer towards me.

* * *

><p>We were all gathered around the small table which was tucked away into the corner of the kitchen, Annabeth was stood talking about the Hestia and Vesta tablets while Percy was giving death glares across the table to a sullen Nico<p>

"I know this sounds ridiculous, but I physically cannot read these tablets on this boat! Translating Greek is hard enough on itself but when you're on a boat that's constantly rocking, I just can't focus, we need to head to land and then I can try and figure out where Hestia is! Are we close to Land Percy?" Annabeth spoke in quite an annoyed voice.

Percy ignored her, he was still staring at Nico, "Percy" Annabeth screamed

"Huh? What have I missed" Percy asked confused

"I asked you, seaweed brain if we were close to any land" A focused look crossed over Percy

"Errm about 40 – 50 minutes away due west" he replied.

"Right I think we have a plan then, so in the morning we'll head to land, I'll try to translate these" she said while waving the tablets in the air "and you lot can go search for food, because we're quite low at the minute" she continued

"Great, can we go to bed now?" Phoenix said between yawns. Annabeth nodded her head in answer and Phoenix shot up from his seat and headed down the corridor in the direction of his room. Zia turned to me and asked

"So what do you want to do?" Her piercing eyes told me she wanted to get out of her as soon as possible.

"We could go sit on the deck and play some cards if you want? I'm sure there's a pack around here somewhere" I replied

"Sure, meet you out there in 10?" she said while standing and then she continued to walk out the room. I rummaged around the kitchen for the cards but to no avail I couldn't find them.

"They must be here! I've seen them before" I muttered to myself

"Are these what you're looking for?" a voice came behind me. A look of disgust covered my face as I turned to see Nico holding the deck. I stormed over and grabbed the pack, rather violently and then continued to storm out the room.

"Wait! I just wanted to talk" he shouted after me

"Go fuck yourself, you pig!" I screamed back at him.

I Joined Zia out on the deck, who was in quite caught up in a deep conversation with Annabeth

"… I just feel like I'm losing him" I heard Annabeth say, before they noticed I was stood there and quickly silenced themselves.

"Hey" Zia said "Annabeth asked if she could play a few games with us"

"Oh cool, yeah that's fine" I smiled in Annabeth's direction. I chucked the deck to Zia "You shuffle" I said while pulling a chair up.

As the night passed I felt myself warming up to Annabeth, at first I thought she was one of those girls who was so stuck up, everyone was below, but now I can see she's just worried about losing Percy, who seems to the most important thing to her. Zia seemed to have a knack at cards and won most games, soon it was midnight and I excused myself knowing that tomorrow was going to be quite a long day of boring old Greek stuff. Walking past the kitchen I flashed Percy a quick smile, who seemed too deep in thought to notice.

Changing into my PJ's then I pulled the my covers back, climbed in and instantly fell asleep.


	12. Alaska

**The Missing Hearth – Chapter 11**

Annabeth's POV

I woke to a beam of sunlight shining through the small porthole above my head. I push the duvet back and stretch my arms above my head, yawning widely I stand and start looking for some clean clothes to wear. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a Camp Half-Blood tee, I quickly get changed and head towards the small kitchen area. I find Phoenix sitting at the table nursing what seems to be a cup of tea "Hey" I say trying to act positive. His head snaps up and looks in my direction, I never noticed how beautiful his eyes were, and the turquoise colour seemed to shift and dance, almost magically

"Hey, sorry I didn't hear you come in" he slowly rubs his eyes and takes a large gulp of the milky liquid

"Tired?" I ask while slipping into the seat opposite him

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep really, I don't know what it is, I just have a really bad feeling about today" He answers back rather timidly

"That always happens with a big quest, you'll get used to it, without it the whole thing wouldn't be fun, well if you can call life and death situations fun" he chuckles slightly "Well I don't know about you but I am absolutely staring!" I continue, while standing up and browsing the cupboards for anything to eat, finding a box of breakfast bars I hold them up triumphantly "Want one?" I ask while shaking the box in my hand

"I'm alright thanks, I think Zia wants to find a nice place to eat when we go to land, so I wouldn't eat too much or she'll murder you" He states

"Oh" I say reluctantly while placing the box pack in the cupboard and sulkily sitting back down. I hear chatter in the hallway and it seems to be Zia and Damara heading our way, sliding further into the corner so there's room for the two of them to join us, I see Phoenix stand up to hug both of them and ask how they are, both of them reply with a simple alright and Zia sits down while Damara heads to the kettle

"Does anybody want one?" she asks as she leans against the counter while waiting for the kettle to boil, Phoenix gestures to his half full cup and turns her offer down, she looks at me I shake my head timidly no

"I'd love a coffee thanks, no milk though please" Zia replies in a sweet tone

"You know" I begin "Usually the quests I've been on with Percy before have been fast paced with a deadline like in a few days' time, this one has been quite weird though, so slow paced and it needs more intelligence then brawl" all three of them laugh, and we continue to chatter about useless things while we was waiting for Percy and Nico to join us.

* * *

><p>Once everybody was awake and gathered in the kitchen I stood to do my usual meeting, being the daughter of Athena the group usually left me to plan what we was going to do, which frankly became annoying after a while. I cleared my throat to try and gain everyone's attention, everybody seemed to have heard except for Percy and Phoenix who were deep in conversation, I tried clearing my throat once again but that didn't work so I screamed "SEAWEED BRAIN!", which finally caught his attention. "Now I'll keep this quick because we already went over this last night, but I thought I better remind everyone so that we are all sure. Percy is going to take this boat straight towards land and once there we're going to try and find a secluded place so I can look at these tablets, okay? You guys can go get some supplies as we seem to be running low and please for the love of the gods remember that we are fugitive's so don't go showing your faces off to everybody." I dismissed everybody and they all hurried back in the directions of their rooms to get changed ready for the long day ahead of us.<p>

* * *

><p>As we docked on what seemed to be a deserted dock, I jumped and landed on the old wood, it gave off a large shriek as it adjusted to the new weight, Zia quickly followed me along with the Damara and Phoenix. Once everybody was on the dock Zia touched the necklace to the boat, and once again it shrank to its amulets size<p>

"What did you do that for?" Percy asked

"Better to be safe than sorry" Zia replied rather curtly. We all headed towards a large, dilapidated barn, once there Phoenix slowly pushed the side door open, the barn was completely empty except for a few machines which I could not guess what there functions were. Slowly I stepped in and surveyed the dust on the floor seemed thick and settled, so I deemed it okay to use, as it seems nobodies been here for a few years.

"Right I'll stay here and you guys can go further into town, please don't get arrested" my eyes flashed towards the direction of Nico and Percy. After everybody had left, I brushed a patch of the floor with my sleeve, so that it was clean to sit on and set to work on the tablets.

Phoenix's POV

The air seemed cool once stepping out the barn, I noticed fresh snow further into the town, which made me realise how cold I actually was. "Does anybody know exactly where we are?" I looked around to see puzzled looks

"We could be anywhere, the boat can go that fast we could probably travel the globe in a day" Percy remarked.

"Okay, first thing first is I think we should grab a coat or something, I don't know about you but I am freezing" Everybody nodded in agreement. We travelled further into the quaint town, it seemed small and run down, we came across a small shop with hunting gear in the window "There's bound to be coats in here" I said while pointing at the small shop. I pushed the door open and stepped in, a small bell above me seemed to chime and an old man leaning heavily on a walking stick stumbled into the shop floor

"Can I help you?" His voice rose slightly as if questioning our being there

"Yes, actually we were looking for some coats, do you have any? Its awfully bitter out there" I replied while trying to give off a friendly smile.

"Now, why would you come to Alaska without any coats? We're known for the cold ya'know" Percy gave a little gasp of shock at the mention of Alaska, I shrugged it off though suspecting it to be with something personal

"We didn't actually know where we are, you see me and my friends are sailing around the world on a trip, however we are running quite low on supplies and this was the first land we spotted, now do you have any coats or are we wasting our time?" I asked rather snappy, wanting to get out of here incase the guy recognises us, I just realised how stupid we've been we've not watched any news or anything, for all we know our faces are plastered everywhere.

"Yes, yes. Over there" He gestured to the far side of the room. Going to were he pointed I find a few coats with a tartan pattern, grimising at the sight of it I rummage through the pile until I find one which looks like it will fit me, slinging it around my shoulders I try it on

"A little too big on the arms" I muse. Loooking deeper I find two more which look like they'll fit Zia and Damara, throwing them at each of them respectively I stepped back so Percy and Nico can look. Once we all had coats that fitted I walked over towards the guy who was stood by the cash box. "Do you take American express?" I asked, he laughed in my face

"Good one kid, Hah! American express, that will be $125 dollars please" I gulped and realised I had no cash. I turned to look at the others who looked down at their shoes.

"I have $60" Damara piped up. I strolled over and took the money from Damara, with my back turned to the old guy I casted a quick duplication spell.

"Will you take $120 for them?" I ask the old guy

"If you promise to never come back"

"Deal" I walked back to the man and placed the wad of dollars into his hand.

"Your friend said she only had $60" He said rudely

"There is $120 there, count it if you want, Damara's not the brightest muffin in the box" I said to the guy in a hushed voice. The old man counted the money guffed and said

"Go on get out of here" We all hurried out the door and back into the bracing cold, though it didn't fell to bad with our new coats. Damara turned to me with a scowl on her face

"There was definitely $60 what's going on?"

"I duplicated it, were already thieves may as well add forged money to it" I smiled in her direction "Now does anybody have any more cash, even a dollar?" Percy handed me a rather dirty looking crumpled $10

"It was in the coats pocket" He said, after casting a few more duplication spells, I handed a large wad of cash to Nico

"If you, Percy and Damara go get food, Zia and I will look for somewhere to eat. Meet back at that barn in an hour okay?" They all nodded, me and Zia headed in one direction and the others went the opposite way. We checked all the stores windows but could not find any sign of a diner or somewhere to buy any food. Zia checked her watch, seeing we still had 20 minutes left before we had to meet the others we decided to take a slow stroll back, we chatted about many unimportant things, like what we think will be in fashion next year and what we will do once we get back to New York, as the barn came into view an ear piercing scream filled the air, Zia looked at me as fear clouded her usually black eyes

"Annabeth!" she screamed and we started running towards the barn, Zia's hand flew out and as soon as our fingers touched we were pulled into the shadows. Landing in the corner of the barn we scanned the room quickly, but there was no sign of anyone, we went towards what must have been where Annabeth was and found a note folded on the floor, picking it up I read aloud

_If you ever want to see your friends again bring us the Hestia and Vesta tablets_

I looked at Zia, "They have them all don't they?" she asked, I nodded my head in confirming our fears

"But they don't have the tablets" I said, trying to find something positive "Annabeth must of hidden them" We searched the room for what felt like hours, until suddenly a girl in a silver jumper aiming at a bow at us spoke from her place at the now open doors, letting the cold air in

"Move unless told too and your dead" I looked towards Zia and gulped.


	13. Artimis

**Chapter 12**

**Zia's POV**

"Move unless told too and your dead" I looked towards Zia and gulped.

We do as instructed and stand completely still as she circles us taking our weapons off of us. She ties our hands behind our backs "Move" she snaps pushing me in the back with her bow and arrow. We walked for what felt like hours until we arrived at what looked like a campsite with a huge circular tent in the middle…

"Wait here" the girl says as she walks off confidently towards the circular tent. We stand there awkwardly looking around at the camp. Girls all in silver jackets were walking round seeming to follow a normal routine. I looked around more realising that there was no boys in view, I frown at this realising how weird this situation we were in actually was. I turn to Phoenix

"What is this place?" I ask

"I have no idea" he answers back while trying to make it look like he was not talking "have you noticed there's no boys?" he asks. I can hear the fear in his voice.

"It'll be alright, I promise nothing will happen to you, I swear to the gods" I say determinedly, thunder rumbles in the sky

"You shouldn't make promises you don't know you can keep" The first girl returned with another one behind her, this new one was the one who spoke. Her hair was pitch black, short and spiked in many directions, her hair was surrounded by a silver band.

"I'm Thalia Grace" this new girl said "I'm second in command of the Hunters of Artimis" Thalia continued. I look towards Phoenix who stares back at me with confusion in his eyes.

"Hello, Artimis is a Greek goddess right? Are you demigods too?" I ask, you could hear the excitement in my voice as I realised these people who we thought were our enemies may actually be able to help us save Damara and the others. Thalia looked towards the other girl

"Taylor, go see if Artimis will speak to these, please" The new girl who must Taylor stormed off back into the tent muttering about something. "You people are playing a dangerous games chasing after Chaos's forces, if you are to speak to Artimis do not let her appearance fool you, she can strike you down on this very spot" Thalia warned us.

Taylor returned with a young looking girl, about 12, who has a silvery glow around her. This must be Artimis. "Explain yourself" Artimis said in a stern voice looking at me, completely ignoring phoenix.

"Well," I started "when were in New York some people found us and took us to a camp half blood where a prophecy was given, which meant we had to the goddess Hestia"

"What did the prophecy say exactly?" Artimis interrupted.

"Six will travel from land to land, three old three new hand in hand, some will find an ally at sea where all will try and find where the hearth may be." I stated nervously

"Continue" Artimis instructed

"So we travelled to London where we broke into the British museum to find a clue, we then travelled to Rome and Greece where we found the Hestia and Vesta tablets, but Annabeth couldn't read the tablets because she got sea sick on the boat so we docked in a land that we later found out to be Alaska, where our friends were kidnapped, then Taylor found us and brought us here." I state in the same tone.

"Who were your friends" Artimis asked

"Damara, Annabeth, Nico and Percy" I say tentatively. Artimis' eyes widened at the mention of Percy's name.

"Percy's missing?!" she asked in a shocked tone

"Yes we were trying to find them before Taylor found us" I say in a confused way

"What can we do to help you find Perseus?" she asks

"We know how to find them, as phoenix" I gesture to a shaking phoenix beside me "could probably track them as he is the son of Hectate but we could we use some extra help…" I ask trailing off at the last suggestion, not knowing if I'm allowed to ask a God for help.

"Thalia. Taylor!" she shouts, both girls come jogging over

"Yes Artimis?" they ask at the same time

"You shall accompany Zia and her friend to help them find Perseus. No questions asked. Go now." She states in a no nonsense tone. Thalia looks okay with this order, Taylor on the hand does not.

"But Artimis there's a boy with them!" she protests

"No questions Taylor. You shall help. End of discussion." Artimis states whilst turning and walking away. Both girls turn to us, Taylor looking less willing but ready nonetheless.

"So where do we need to go?" Thalia asks.

"Well first we need to get out of here" I say. Thalia leads us out of the camp and we prepare to start our rescue mission.

"We need the Hestia and Vesta tablets though" Phoenix states as we're walking away from the camp. I had completely forgotten about them.

"Well where are they?" Taylor asks in an annoyed tone.

"We sort of lost them when the others were taken…" I say nervously not looking at Taylor

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Taylor shouts

"Whoa calm down Tay, we'll just go back to the last place they were seen and go from there" Thalia says calmly holding Taylor back from me.

"Fine where's that?!" Taylor asks a little more calmly

"The barn where you found us" Phoenix states. We start our trek back up to the barn where we were captured by Taylor. It takes a little longer this time because we got a little lost on the way there.

"I'm sure it's left!" I say to Taylor

"No it's right, I should remember, I trekked there and back! I know the way! It's right!" she says squaring up to me

"I'm pretty sure its left" I say shyly cowering under her glare.

"GUYS!" Phoenix shouts, "I can try to track the barn and then we'll go whatever way my tracking tells us" he says more calmly. We all nod in agreement. Phoenix laid a map out on the ground, muttered something under his breath and his finger darted left, onto a small field near the border line of Alaska and Canada.

"Well….yeah…ok…I got confused with my left and right, it happens all the time. I knew it was that way" Taylor says angrily storming off the direction that the map told her to.

"She calms down once you get to know her, it takes her a while for her to trust people properly, that's all." Thalia says gently as we follow behind Taylor. We arrive there an hour later, hoping to find the tablets somewhere inside it.

We enter the barn tentatively hoping not to find a monster in there. Taylor goes in first and scopes the place along with Thalia, we wait nervously outside, knowing we're not trained like they are.

"It's clear!" Thalia shouts, we enter nervously looking around feverishly.

"It's ok we checked, there are no signs of any monsters, or titans." Taylor says in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Ok" phoenix says taking a deep breath.

"Well let's get looking" I say. We search everywhere, under hay stacks, in wheel barrows, even inside some of the machinery, we turn the place upside down and still no sign of the tablets.

"Arg! What are we going to do! They obviously aren't in here!" Taylor says frustratingly.

"This is where Annabeth was taken, they could only be here, we know she wouldn't take them with her, and she probably hid them somewhere in here to make sure Chaos didn't take them" Phoenix explains.

"Hmmm this is Annabeth we're talking about, she may have put them somewhere locked with a password or a puzzle." Thalia says thoughtfully.

"And how exactly would she have done that! It's a barn for Gods sakes!" Taylor shouts as thunder rolls the skies "Sorry" she says holding her hands up.

"It's Annabeth, she'd find a way!" Thalia says obviously getting annoyed at how pessimistic Taylor is.

"They're not here!" Taylor shouts kicking a nearby machine. The thing that happens next shocks us all, as it is not like Annabeth to do that. Both halves of the tablet drop out of the machine Taylor just kicked, and fall together into one piece as they hit the floor. They glow brightly for a few seconds then go back to their gold/silver colour but as one piece instead of two.

"Oh my Gods" Thalia says as she walks cautiously towards the tablet on the floor. She slowly reaches out and then breathes a sigh of relief once she realises it's not hot as we all expected it to be. "Ok who wants to carry it?" Thalia asks nervously. Once no one volunteers she sighs "Ok I'll take it" she says whilst putting it in her back pack. We all head out of the barn and stop suddenly all realising we have no idea where Percy and the others may be.


	14. Captured

**The Missing Hearth – Chapter 13**

**Zia's POV:**

After we left the barn with the new joint tablet Phoenix did a tracing spell to help try and find the others.

"It's done" Phoenix said after a few minutes of chanting.

"So where do we go now then?" I asked

"They're moving easy quickly." he replied

"Haven't they stopped moving yet? Don't you know where we can cut them off?" Taylor asked

"No," Phoenix replied "for now we just have to follow and try to catch up with them." we all nodded in unison and set off east.

After what seemed like days of walking we fount a train that was heading east. We all decided that it would be best to rest and would be quicker to take the train as far east as we could. On the train we sat around a table and tried to plan out what we was going to do and the quest.

"I cant believe we lost them" Phoenix moaned out loud "it's our first quest and we loose our friends with in the first few days." he leant forward, elbows resting on the table and put his head in his hands.

"Sweetie, it'll be okay. We'll find them. don't worry." I say soothingly and put my head on his back.

"Guys this is nothing compared to the ones I've been on. Seriously don't worry about it." Thalia tried to reassure us. Taylor just stared out of the window and looked like she really didn't want to be here.

**Percy's POV:**

_**(A few hours before)**_

We split up from Phoenix and Zia and set off in search of food. We walked for ages in silence, until

"Percy?" Nico said

"What?" I asked

"I really am sorry about what happened. Please forgive me so we can go back to normal, you're my best friend and I hate the thought that I might of lost you forever." Nico said. Damara rolled her eyes and let out a puff of white cold cloudy breath.

"Nico what you did is unforgivable. Nothing will ever be the same again now. I can't help that, it's your fault. I'm still mad at you about what you did. It's not like you to do something like this. I thought I knew you , I thought that was we as close as brothers, but now I don't think I know you as well as I thought." I replied

"But-" Nico started

"Lets not talk about this now guys." Damara interrupted. I could tell that she hated Nico from the tone of her voice. This was going to take a lot to get through, hopefully in the end after the quest, if we're all still alive we can come to some sought of terms of peace. I shake my head to try and clear the thoughts from it, and try to focus on the task at hand, which is finding food.

We turned a corner and fount a little store hidden between two large buildings. We walk in and get all the food and drink we need, plus more just in case, then we head over to the check outs and pay. We headed out of the shop and started back the way we had come, so that we could go meet the rest of our group. No words are exchanged between us all, until we reach the barn and find Annabeth sprawled out on the floor. The tablets in front of her, the notes surrounding her and a confused and frustrated look on her face.

She didn't look up as we came in. We sat our shopping aside and I grabbed four cans of diet coke and handed one to everyone, Annabeth sat up and took a sip.

"It doesn't make sense." Annabeth whined

"Aren't they supposed to be clues? Aren't they supposed to be easy and helpful?" I asked

"That's the part that doesn't make sense. They're supposed to help us with the quest, but right now there about as helpful as a sundress in a rain storm." Annabeth said and let out a heavy sigh as she threw her arms up in the air the emphasize the point that it is useless, then lets them quickly fall back down to her sides. Then she stood up, stepped out all of her notes

"I need some air." she quickly told us, then hurried out of the barn doors.

Me, Damara and Nico just sat there in silence, no one knew what to say to each other. The silence was short lived, the door to the barn flew open and Annabeth come running in.

"Monsters are near." she told us. We all got ready to fight and stood facing the now open doors while Annabeth gabbed the tablets and tried to find a good place to hide them. Fog rolled into the barn, it surrounded us, through it we could see only the shadows. I started to feel dizzy, my legs gave out beneath me. I quickly looked around to try to see if my friends had been effected, but they were nowhere in sight. Then the world quickly faded from my view and I blacked out.

_**-Time laps-**_

I woke up in a dark small room, the only light was coming from a low watt bulb hanging in the centre of the ceiling. I look around so that I can take in my surroundings and plan an escape, I see my friends unconscious on the floor. I got up and went over to them, I shook Annabeth first, then Damara, then Nico. They all looked around at the room and we then realised that we was in the back of a van.

"We need to get out of here and get back to the barn." Annabeth said, her voice sounded horse from not having spoken in so long. We went up to a wall each and started to try and find a weakness in one of the walls. There was two huge doors that took up an entire wall but we already tried them and the wouldn't budge a bit, we was locked in with no change of escape what so ever. I sighed and slumped down against one of the walls, everyone came over and sat down around me.

"What do we do now?" Damara asked to no one in particular

"I could try shadow travelling?" Nico suggested. We all nodded , then he got up and went over to the shadows. "It's not working. Something must be blocking our abilities." he came back over and sat down.

"I guess we're just going to have to preserve our strength and wait till we arrive at wherever we're supposed to be heading then try and escape when they open the doors. Lets just hope that they don't use that fog gas again, otherwise we're screwed." Annabeth stated. I had the feeling that this was going to be a long night.

"I wonder what's happening with Zia and Phoenix, they must of made it back to the barn by now. I hope that they're okay. They need to be safe." Nico wondered out loud "She needs to be safe." his voice broke and we could all tell that he was holding back tears. Annabeth and Damara both looked at me and I realised that we were all thinking the same thing _'He really did still care about her.'_ Nico put his head in his hands and began to sob. I stood up and went over to him, then sat next to him and placed my hand on his back. He jumped at the contact, then he tried to relax a bit and looked up at me.

"I thought you hated me." he stated in matter of fact tone.

"I don't hate you, none of us really do. We were just mad at you for what you did." I told him.

"You should hate me. I hate myself." he said and his voice broke, bring forth a new set of fresh tears.

"What you did was wrong, but we don't hate you for it. You're still our friend and we want to help you through this, but we just don't know how. Plus we're in the middle of a quest right now, so we can't really give it our full attention. Maybe when we all get back to camp…" Annabeth said and trailed off. Nico nodded his head

"Knowing that you guys don't hate me is enough, for now. Thank you, I think I'm going to need all the help that I can get." Nico said in a quite voice.

The van came to a screeching halt, we all rose up to our feet. A voice came through the closed doors

"Eat up, children." the voice hissed. We looked around the room in search of this mysterious food that we were supposed to eat. In the middle of our little circle we saw a huge pile of food surrounded but lots of bottles of water. Then suddenly the van lurches forward and we nearly all topple over, we all sit back down for safety then start rummaging though the food and drink.

We devourer the food, we was all starving and glad that we finally could just sit down and stuff our faces.

'_I hoped this wouldn't take too long. I hoped that we can escape soon, all this sitting around and doing nothing is starting to send me crazy, I cant bare to be this helpless. I wish that Phoenix and Zia were safe, I hoped that they might even be looking for us. I know that in the end we'll all had to meet up, we needed to get on with the quest at hand. We had a task to do, one we needed to complete, Zia's fate rested on this quest and so far it's not going too well. We've all grown so close over such a short period of time that we've all known each other and I think that if anything happened to her all of us would fall apart.' _I look over to Nico _'Some more than others. He wouldn't be Nico anymore, it would completely destroy him, without and chance that he would ever return. We had to complete this quest and save her, no matter what we had to find a way to solve all our problems and works this out.'_


	15. Taylor

**Chapter 14Damara's POV:**I sat bolt upright. I could tell that the van had stopped moving, I looked around to see Percy and Annabeth together in a corner, while Nico was on the other side. I placed my hands on the rusted metal floor and instantly flinched back at how cold it was, I didn't know how the others were still sleeping. Pushing myself up I stumbled across the small distance to Nico, lightly kicking him in the ribs I whispered harshly

"Oi, get up! We've stopped moving" His eyes shot open and snapped to focus on me, he then stretched his arms out behind him and let out a small yawn, his black hair stuck out in all directions, something that we would usually laugh at but the seriousness of the situation had drained any humour from all of us. I moved over to Annabeth and Percy and woke them up in turn. Once everyone was awake and understood what was going on we all formed a sort of semi-circle around the doors, ready to fight or to run, whatever happened. Time seemed to be moving slowly, my heart was beating so rapidly I could feel it bounce off of my bones. My breath was catching in the back of my throat and my ears were strained waiting to hear any signal of what was going to happen. I glanced to my right to see Percy embrace Annabeth and kiss her slightly on the top of her head. I realised how bad of a situation we were actually in, being in the van with the others had made it seem like a faraway dream that I had pushed right into the corner of my brain, but now it was speeding right to the had no idea who had taken us, where we were or if Zia and Phoenix was alright. Guilt started to swell in my chest, I hadn't of thought of my two best friends and if they were in danger, I only had thought about me and what I was going to do. A lock clicked above us and a small hatch clunked open, a beam of weak light shone through and illumined the mess left from last night. A small round silver cylinder hit the floor and a gas flew out at such a high pressure that I couldn't see any of my friends. I started to cough violently, my throat was burning and I started to feel dizzy, I slipped on a half empty water bottle and the last sound I heard before my head crashed into the floor was the click of the lock on the large doors.**Phoenix's POV:**As the train came to a halt I handed Zia her rucksack and we headed to the door, it was midday and the light from outside blinded us, stepping on to the platform I shielded my eyes and headed in the direction of Thalia and Taylor who seemed to be in a heated discussion

"But why did I have to come? It's just some stupid boy anyway, why do we have to chase halfway across the country for him?" I heard Taylor moan"Some stupid boy?!" Thalia's voice started to raise, I could tell she was getting angry "That stupid boy you're talking about is the hero of Olympus! Without him there would be no Gods at all! Show some respect!" Taylor seemed taken aback, her head lowered and she seemed to be sulking. We headed over a small bridge which spawned across the six small platforms and stepped into an unknown city."Okay, we need to find a quiet place so I can cast the spell again, and then we can track them down" I said trying to act confident, the group nodded and we all headed in search of anywhere peaceful, heading down the street in front of us we saw lots of fashion boutiques with all the new summer fashion, I could see Zia was itching to go in and have a look around but I knew we didn't have time for it, so I grabbed her sleeve and gently tugged it forwards. After a half hour search we came across a park, Thalia headed in and found a clump of trees we could use as cover, as she ushered us in I couldn't believe how much it reminded me of London, I could see Zia thought the same and I suddenly felt sorry for her as I remembered the flying boar. I pulled out a map and quickly began to chant hoping to be out of here as soon as possible, I could see Thalia and Taylor behind me guarding the entrance with their bows and Zia was to the right of me. As I finished a small spot on the map began to glow just east of Vancouver. Marking the spot with an 'X' I called Thalia over who bent to examine the map "How far away do you think it is?" she asked"I'm not entirely sure where we are in the first place, but I'd hazard a guess we're only a day away tops" She nodded her head and stood back up while wiping her knees"We better find somewhere to stay for the night, it's getting dark" I gazed up to see the sky speckled with a few stars and pushed myself up ready for the long night ahead.**Taylor's POV:**We headed back into the large city, Thalia had taken up the front and was talking to the boy Phoenix, and I had been left with the task of protecting our rear. Phoenix unsettled me, he wasn't like any of the boys I knew, not like the ones who made me join the hunt all those years ago, he seemed nice and genuinely nice, not like those who just pretend so they can get whatever they want out of you, Thalia said something and he let out a small chuckle. I noticed Zia had slowed her pace so she was now walking in step with me. "Hey" she said"Hello" I replied trying to act curt so she won't want to talk to me."So…" she trailed off trying to find something to say "why are you so against boys? I mean they are like really nice" she blurted out. I stopped frozen, the directness of it had confused me"Its part of the agreement of the hunt, I can live for eternity but we're sworn off boys" I replied trying to not let on how much the question had actually offended me"Wow, I don't think I could ever give up boys, I mean not even for immortality" She said deep in thought"It's not for everyone. What's his deal?" I ask pointing towards Phoenix"Oh Phee? Well he's just another girl really, I mean he's gay you see" She said like the statement didn't faze her "Don't get me wrong, just because he's gay it doesn't make him a girl, he just acts like it. I guess it's from always being with me and Damara he probably picked up our mannerisms" she shrugged."Oh" was all I could reply. We carried on walking until, Phoenix stopped in front of a grand hotel, he strolled forward pulled the door open and turned towards us"Well aren't you coming?" he said with a grin on his face. Leaving Phoenix to sort out a room we stood awkwardly in the lobby, not really fitting in. Three kids in scruffy clothes who look like they could do with a really good wash, Phoenix was the only one who seemed to be immaculate, and his pristine clothes were always smart, with no creases no matter how much he folded it to make them fir into his rucksack. Phoenix came over waving a small platinum card"Penthouse" was all he said as he continued to walk past us and towards the we had arrived at the door to the room, Phoenix slotted the card above the handle and pushed it down, a small electronic click went off and he gently pushed the door open. We were greeted by beautiful views of the bustling town below, floor to ceiling windows lined one wall where a couple of sofas were clumped together around a large flat screen TV, in the corner opposite was a small dazzling white kitchen, and next to that a large glass table with high back leather chairs surrounding it. I had never stayed in a place like this, over the past century travelling with Artimis I had got used to the thin material of the tent and the cool earth below me. A large corridor lead to four bedrooms, two with large double beds and the other two with two single beds. Phoenix had called the master room, using the excuse he had paid for it, and Zia took the other double bed as that is what she was used too. I pushed the door to my room open to be met by more grandeur. The beds had large wooden headboards with carved patterns in which were too intricate to follow with your eyes. Large wardrobes lined one wall. I walked over and slid the door to one of them open, I gasped wishing I head enough clothes to fill what seemed to be a never ending space. I large window was centred in the middle of the other wall, strolling over I looked out to be met with more views of the city below. I stood for a while and watched the people go on with their lives as they passed from one shop to another. A small knock came from the door and I shouted "Come in" Zia stepped into the room carrying a large white bag with a zipper down the middle."I thought you'd like to know we're going out for a meal tonight, the bathroom is the room opposite and I must say the shower is divine!" she squealed a bit at the end, obviously happy to be in the life of luxury she was used to living. I motioned to the bag"What's that?" My curiosity had gotten the better of me."This." She began as she started to slowly pull the zipper down "is for you." Once she had fully unzipped the bag she pulled out a sea green dress, it was beautiful, it was knee length and had a slight ripple to it, which reminded me of the sea. I didn't know what to say, it was so beautiful!"F-for me?" I stammered out, I don't think I have ever owned anything so pretty"Yes for you silly, you don't think you can go out in that? Well I better be going, see you in the living room" she hooked the dress on the wardrobe handle and strolled out. I ran the dress through my fingers, it felt like water slowly drizzling down, it was so fine it felt smooth in my hand, caressing the dress one more time I headed to the bathroom to get I was already I stepped out my door to head to the living room, Zia was waiting in a black cocktail dress, she looked beautiful, lace gloves lined her wrists and her hair was curled down one side of head. She stood holding a sea green purse and some matching high heels, after handing them to me she said in delight

"The finishing touches" I caught my reflection in the glass of the window and I realised how pretty I actually looked. Thalia came to join us, she was wearing a dark blue and black combo dress and she looked stunning. Phoenix was the last one to be ready, he wore a simple silver suit, and his blonde hair had been changed to a midnight black, which really made his turquoise eyes pop. After everyone had finished complimenting each other we all headed out for what was going to be one of my most memorable nights.


End file.
